Cursed Eyes
by Illuviar
Summary: Ichigo dies after captain Kuchiki attack during Rukia's arrest. Thanks to a shady deal between Itachi (who happens to be one of Kurosaki's ancestors) and the Shinigami King, Ichigo receives the opportunity to win a second chance. Kurosaki is transported to the Elemental nations, as an Uchiha a elder brother of Sasuke, believing that his task is to help raise and protect him.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto, they belong to their respective owners.**

**Proof read by ****Zanthraxone!**

**'Bankai!' - thought**

**"Bankai!" - speech**

**"_Bankai_!" - Zanpakuto/demon speech**

* * *

**Karakura town, Japan**

"How slow... even in defeat." - those word were more painful for Ichigo than the attack which incapacitated him. Two strikes, which he couldn't see, and he was falling to the ground. Kurosaki could feel the Reiatsu leaving him, like a wave of water surging from a broken dam. In mere seconds, his spiritual power was gone. He failed. He couldn't protect his friend. Ichigo drifted in and out of consciousness, hearing a snippet of conversation between Rukia and her captors.

"Let's go Renji!"

"The brat's dead."

"It's my fault he died!" - for a moment his mind was clear and he bristled at Rukia's words. It was not her fault! He was the one defeated, the one who wasn't strong enough. His eyes briefly opened to see Rukia pinned to a sign post by that red haired bastard. Ichigo's dying body shook with impotent furry, heart thundering in his chest, increasing the speed with which he lost blood from his gaping wounds. Kurosaki's trembling fingers clawed at the hilt of his broken sword, grabbing it like a lifeline.

"Release Rukia!" - Ichigo spat from bloodstained lips. He prayed for a her safety while glaring at Rukia's tormentor. Enraged, Renji slammed her in the hard metal post. Everything was getting harder to see. The shinigami and Rukia became dark blurs, their voices transforming into whispers, coming from far away.

Lub,lub. Lub,lub. Lub - lub. As his world was engulfed by darkness, those were the only sounds Ichigo could hear. Lub, pause lub. The echo was fainter and more irregular with each repeat. 'Heart-beat.' - supplied his clouding mind. Lub... He waited for eternity for the second beat before succumbing into soft twilight. As his unseeing eyes closed, a single bloody tear, slowly made its way down his face, leaving a crimson trail.

* * *

"Hn. That was unpleasant. " - a bored voice deadpanned.

Ichigo found himself staring at the owner of the voice. The substitute shinigami was in small well lit room, looking at. In front of him was a black haired man, whose body was hidden by black cloak, embroidered with pink clouds. He had a gray, metal head protector with stylized leaf in the center. The stranger's face was framed by bangs of onyx black hair, which make his pronounced tear-troughs under his eyes, contrast even more on his pale skin. The man's charcoal eyes looked softly at the young reaper.

"I hoped that if we were to meet it would have been at better circumstances. You are dying, child."

Ichigo's eyes widened in realization. He had heart how his heart stopped beating before losing consciousness. He muttered:

"So that's it. I was useless."

"Untrained? Against a shinigami captain and lieutenant? You did better than most." - The stranger lips stretched into a thin smile. "Yet the end was predictable. Kurosaki Ichigo, you want to protect her? This Rukia?"

Ichigo looked at the man, his sluggish brain trying to comprehend the words.

"Yes! I have to save her!"

The cloaked man smiled, evaluating the substitute shinigami. Their time was running away. He smiled sadly, looking at his descendant.

"I can give you a second chance, though I'll ask you for a boon in return."

Ichigo looked the man in the eyes, thinking of Rukia. He asked:

"What's the catch?"

"You might get killed trying to fulfill my request. However, right now you are seconds from oblivion, so..."

Kurosaki nodded sadly. He could feel it. His body was dead, his soul clinging to it for a few precious seconds. Ichigo took a deep breath and said:

"I accept. What do you want me to do?"

The man bowed at him, smiling:

" I need you to take care for my little brother. " His eyes glowed, irises changing into intertwined black pinwheels, which were spinning slowly. Ichigo was mesmerized by the sight, never noticing how the space around him blurred, shifting and twisting as if being sucked into a vortex.

"I'm sorry for the fate I'm forcing on you, Ichigo. But fear not, in the end of your days in the Elemental nations, you'll have the second chance to save your girl. Tsukuyomi!"

Ichigo found himself in a realm of red mists and shadow, with a crimson moon glowing in the sky. The man was here as well, smiling at him apologetically.

"I'll give you your birthright Ichigo. The tools you'll need to survive and fulfill our pact. I, Uchiha Itachi, welcome you to the family. "

Backfire engulfed Ichigo, engraving knowledge into his mind. Kurosaki screamed, black flames searing his very being. The man was somehow transferring his skills to him, burning them straight into his soul. There were fragments of memories, little more than enough information to form a general picture of a strange world populated by people with supernatural powers. There were flashes, pictures of people who he should not be trusted or outright feared. It felt like days, while the torture at last ended.

Itachi, sad smile never leaving his face, whispered:

"Rise, Uchiha Ichigo. Time to go home."

The shinobi's gaze twisted again, his eyes becoming a black void with a single crimson point in the center. The world stayed still for a moment and then Ichigo was engulfed by a vortex, to be sent far, far away.

Itachi's fell to his knees gasping for air. His expression was one of infinite agony. The Uchiha's sight was gone, blood leaking from where his eyes were. Black flames engulfed his form, slowly consuming him. He turned his blackened face to the side, from where invisible until now figure was approaching him.

"Our deal is now concluded, Uchiha." - grated an inhuman voice. "Let's hope the kid is up to the task. More than he'll ever know is now riding upon his shoulders."

The shinigami king trusted his hand into the disintegrating form of Uchiha Itachi, grabbing his very soul. The immortal being channeled his power into the shinobi's soul, using it as a key for their plan. It opened a tunnel to the past, making something that should have been impossible a reality. The power of the god of Death erased the future of a part of the multiverse, resetting it's timeline from a specific point. The Shinigami king barely stayed on his feet, exhausted. The dice was thrown.

In another dimension, on the border of a country called the Land of Fire, a young man appeared from a tear in the air. His unconscious body crashed in a ditch near a well used road.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Hi no Kuni, near the border**

A pitiful moan heralded Ichigo's slow return of awareness. 'That fucking hurt!' was the first coherent thought of Ichigo. With a groan he dragged his dust covered form from the ditch where he was laying unconscious. His head was spinning, which was aggravating the killer headache tormenting him. He swayed on his legs, unsteady. Ichigo looked around, assessing his surroundings. He was on a third rate country road - no sight of even ancient paved work, not to mention something modern, just hard dirt. The information came uncalled - 'More or less a normal road for this day or age. There were relatively few paved roads - concentrated on the main trade routes of the countries in the Elemental nations.' For a brief moment Ichigo wondered how he knew that, then the memories transferred by Itachi snapped into place, as if they were his own. The memories of his life in Japan and then those granted by his ancestor were mostly integrated while he was knocked out. He shuddered, part of him in awe of what Itachi had wrought - there was whole new persona in his head, complete with memories. It was flawlessly done, more than good enough to hold to the deepest Yamanaka scan.

He knew more than enough to live in this strange new world, he even had seared in his mind most Uchiha clan techniques, not to mention a lot of knowledge about taijutsu, kenjutsu, ninjutu and of course genjutsu. While no genius like Itachi, he had the nagging feeling that he was smarter now, more mature. Probably something to do with the damned Tsukuyomi and the changes it wrought onto him. Fair enough, most of what his ancestor did could be considered improvement, however there were few things that were terrifying him. In this world he was thrust into, Ichigo was a shinobi. An elite hired killer with one of the rarest dojutsu in existence. Which meant he would become a target as soon as knowledge of his existence spread. So he had a decision to make. There was the chance, however slim, that he could live below the radar of the shinobi, as a civilian. That meant no chance of returning to his own world. Itachi had made some kind of a deal with the Shinigami king himself so Ichigo was stuck here. Granted, at least he was not robbed by his free will - there was no compulsion to help Itachi's brother, and by extension Konoha. He could fade into the shadows, live his life and die as ordinary man. However in such a case he will never see his little sisters again. Neither his father or friends. He won't be able to rescue Rukia. The alternative was to embrace an existence as a shinobi. To walk the path of blood and tears, the same path which had torn apart Itachi's heart. Not to mention that he was in the past of this world with Itachi branded as a traitor.

The shoulders of the substitute shinigami slumped while he was thinking. No matter what he chose, he'll need supplies. Now, with his mind somewhat clearer, he looked at his surroundings again, recognizing the road. He was at the border with the land of waves, less than an hour from one of Konoha's equipment stashes for the village ninjas. That thought made him grin for various reasons. Getting out of his dirty shinigami clothing and into something more appropriate for this day and age was well and good. The thought that amused him was the discontent between the image of ninjas in the world he came from and the one here. A lot of shinobi, hell probably most of them relied on open combat and flashy techniques. Not the shadowy assassins from the past of his world. Except the fellas in the assassination divisions, who were more or less poster childs for the ninjas of Japan's past. Ichigo shook his head with amusement; these thoughts had improved a bit his mood. 'Let's check how my new body and the chakra work.'

Ichigo disappeared into the bushes surrounding the road with speed at which it would have been impossible to navigate if not for his time as substitute shinigami. He was moving fast enough to be a blur for a civilian in either world. He soon entered the surrounding forest, jumping from branch to branch. The relatively brief race through the trees was exhilarating. Soon Ichigo reached a massive three, in which roots the supply cache was hidden. He retrieved dark blue shirt and black pants with lots of pockets. The clothing was joined by pair of leather hiking boots, which turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. Looking at the well preserved weapons in the cache, Ichigo wondered what to take. While thinking about the various sharp, pointy instruments of death and mayhem, he removed the wrapping of a small mirror. There were few of them present for couple of reasons - it helped when applying various "maskirovka" and was pretty useful when checking and trying to treat wounds on parts of one's' body which normally can't be seen. With trepidation, Ichigo looked in the mirror. His face was the same, if a couple of years more mature. While his hair had retained its spiky form, now it was charcoal black - what you'll expect from a stereotypical Uchiha. 'Good thing that I didn't come to this world with the standard stick up the ass, which is one of the clan trademarks.' He froze at that thought. He had just thought of himself as an Uchiha. 'You are one down to the DNA.' there was a small, treacherous voice, in his head.

Ichigo decided to bite the bullet and channeled a bit of chakra in his eyes. The action was natural, as if he had done it countless times. His eyes changed, becoming crimson with three tomoes spinning lazy around his irises. He stared a long time in his reflection, the reality finally sinking in. Ichigo knew intellectually, who he was now, from the moment he awakened in this world, yet deep down, in his heart, part of him had been in denial. But now, seeing the changes with his eyes the enormity of his situation struck him like a sledgehammer. A whisper, barely registered in his frozen mind:

_"Abandon your fear, Ichigo. Move forward, never look back. You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate. This is the world of your ancestors, your birthright. Embrace it or you and everyone you hold dear will die."_

Ichigo shuddered, covered by cold sweat. That voice was familiar, he somehow knew it as well as those of his father and sisters. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, regulating his chakra flow in order to calm down his body faster. The trembling stopped and his shock subdued. With sure hands he wrapped the mirror in the soft textile, which resembled cotton to the touch. He attached pouches of kunai and shuriken to his belt, and secured a duo of hunting knifes in his boots. Ichigo looked at the tactical vests in the cache and took the one which was the closest fit for him. Then he looked for a good blade. He was not sure why he felt that he needed a sword - was it because swords were one of the prefered weapons in the clan or the part of him which was shinigami desired a blade in his hands. The selection was poor - just a few tantos. Ichigo took the best of them and secured it to his back. Just in case, he stashed a med pack in the small of his back. He took a six smoke bombs and rations for few days, and closed the cache door, hiding it in the process.

"Uchiha Ichigo." he muttered. The name flowed naturally from his lips, just as easy as he would say Kurosaki. Ichigo shook his head in regret. He couldn't afford to think of himself as 'Ichigo Kurosaki'. That person had no place in the shinobi world. The son of Isshin was no cold blooded killer, something he needed to become in order to survive. Something he hoped, he'll be able to live with. He exhaled loudly and stretched himself. Ichigo turned in the direction of Konoha and started moving in leisurely pace. He needed to sort through the memories of his new life, to figure who exactly is Uchiha Ichigo, before entering the leaf.

* * *

**Hi no Kuni, two days later**

Ichigo was only a day out of Konoha, still moving slowly for a ninja. The last two days had made wonders for his psyche, giving him enough time to straighten his head and feelings. Seeing no good alternative, he had accepted the personality crafted by Itachi, merging with it. It had changed him, making him much more cynical. What he regretted from the whole ordeal was the death of what was left of his innocence. He was grimly aware of all the evils people did in the world, of what Itachi had done, even though his intentions were mostly good and honorable. Ichigo's musings were disrupted by clash of metal and muffled woman's scream which came in front and to the left of his current path. He cursed under his breath for not being more aware of his surroundings and dashed to check what was happening. He made his way to the confrontation fast yet stealthy. He found himself hidden in the corona of a high tree, overlooking small clearing in the forest floor. There was a slender, black haired woman, supporting herself on a tree-trunk in the middle of the meadow. She was wearing red, armored blouse with only right sleeve, covered by a short dress resembling bandages. Her arms and upper thighs, which were visible under her 'dress' were wrapped in bandages. She had a long bleeding gash on her lower right thigh. The woman's unusual eyes - red with double rings, was glaring at three shinobi, who were circling her like a pack of jackals. Her look held a hint of despair. Ichigo could sense that she was almost out of chakra.

His mind promptly supplied her name - Yūhi Kurenai, Konoha's genjutsu mistress. Wounded, and without enough juice for even a simple jutsu, her situation was desperate. Ichigo slowly drew four kunai in his left hand, preparing to jump in.

One of the attackers, whose face he could see leered:

" She's a nice piece of ass. We can have a bit fun after all the shit she made us go through."

Kurenai glared defiantly at the shinobi, who had a Suna headprotector, with the sign of the village scratched. A missing nin. Ichigo wondered how the hell those bastards had made it this close to Konoha without being stopped by one of the patrols. And at least one of the bastards was a would be rapist to boot. Ichigo's face was transformed into one of fury. His first kills were not to be ones he would regret. The first idea anyone had of his presence, was when his kunais left his arm and hissed through the air aimed at single target. That turned to be good idea, when the shinobi, warned by combat honed instincts dove to the right. Two of the weapons were thrown at the back of his head and spine, and the other two at the most likely directions for the target to dodge. The kunai hit the missing nin in the tight, slowing him down. He was unable to evade the next pair which struck him in the neck and the left eye. He slumped to the ground dead. Meanwhile, Ichigo was upon another of the shinobi, slashing at him with his tanto. The missing nin was moving in slow motion, compared to the sharingan enhanced perception of Ichigo. Slipping the blade between the hasty drawn guard of the man was child's play. The ninja fell to the ground nearly decapitated, leaving Ichigo with Kurenai between him and the would be rapist. With an unexpected speed, Ichigo vaulted over the wounded kunochi, his left hand busy making symbols.

"Katon: Karyu Endan!(Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!)" - Ichigo said quietly.

A long stream of flame shot from his mount, like from the muzzle of a flamethrower. The mining nin had time to start screaming before being engulfed in flames. A second later, he was rendered silent when superheated air made its way in his mouth and lungs cooking them instantly. The nameless shinobi blazing remains crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Ichigo cleaned up his tanto on the clothes of the one of the dead shinobi, scanning the forest for more treats. He was trying hard not to think about what he just did. He had snuffed the life of three people and it was easy. Too damn easy. With a supreme effort of will he ordered his hands to remain steady, fighting the shock which was trying to crash his system.

"Thanks." Kurenai rasped, a hand clutching her wounded leg.

Her voice was enough to distract him from thinking too much, which was a good thing at that moment. He looked her in the eyes causing her to gasp softly.

Kurenai bit her lip, forestalling a colorful curse. The man who just saved her had the sharingan! Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha should have been the only ones left with that bloodline! Not to mention that the youth in front of her was deadly, slaughtering her pursuers with practiced ease. She logged off the lack of forehead protector , despite the otherwise normal shinobi outfit of the teen, for later.

"Are those all of them?" - He asked, waving at the bodies.

She nodded, the taunt lines of her beautiful face relaxing a bit. She was deadly pale. _'' Blood loss and shock." _again a maddeningly familiar voice supplied.

"Let's see that leg." - He said softly and kneeled next to her. " That's a nasty scratch."

Ichigo noticed how she was slipping in unconsciousness and slapped her face lightly. "None of that now miss. Stay with me."

Kurenai focused on the man, her eyelids heavy with fatigue, feeling his fingers probing her throbbing thigh. She yelped in pain as he none too gently pressed near the wound.

"Stay awake." - He ordered with a voice brooking no argument.

She grumbled quietly, glaring at her unexpected savior.

"Not to be ungrateful, but who are you? What are you doing here? You are no Konoha shinobi."

Ichigo huffed while examining the wound. It was ugly with jagged edges but not deep enough to reach the artery. He opened the med - pack, tearing open a packet of bloodcloginh powder.

"This will sting." - He warned and emptied the pack over the wound, causing Kurenai to hiss in pain and give an unladylike curse.

"As for your questions, no I'm not a Konoha shinobi. Heard of the place but haven't been there yet. To your second question, I'm hoping to be accepted in the village. I was on my way there when I stumbled upon this unpleasantness. Seriously, aren't there supposed to be patrols this close to the Leaf?! And as far as my name is concerned, ladies first." - He said while cleaning the wound which had stopped bleeding for now and was bandaging it. While she was pondering his words, he asked, nodding at the med - pack:

"Any idea which are the blood replenishing ones?"

"The red ones." - She deadpanned. "I'm Yūhi Kurenai."

"A fitting name. It does suit you." - He smiled at her.

Ichigo looked at his handiwork and hummed. It should be good enough until they reach Konoha. The time spent helping at his dad's clinic had apparently paid off. He cleaned the blood of his hands and gave Kurenai two blood pills and his canteen. His smile became thinner and he looked her in the eyes. He wondered how the first Konoha nin he met will react to his name.

"I'm Uchiha Ichigo." he said, his voice level.

Despite seeing his eyes earlier, Kurenai was startled at the name.

"An Uchiha?" the name poured from her crimson lips.

Ichigo grinned at her:

"I know, it's hard to believe. I evaded the mandatory implantation of stick up my butt."

Kurenai chuckled, though still suspicious of her savior. She must have betrayed something in her expression, because his next words were:

"It's fine not to trust me yet. It comes with being shinobi. I just hope that you'll find me somewhat trustworthy after my inevitable meeting with an Yamanaka. Now, let's go."

Ichigo picked her up bridal style, prompting an indignant yelp.

"It's faster that way. Besides you shouldn't walk on that leg until a doctor has seen it."

"I'm not a bloody princess in distress." - Kurenai muttered.

"Nope! You are much more beautiful than any princesses I've seen!"

'At least the few I've seen back in Japan on the TV.' that he didn't add. Ichigo sped into the failing night, moving as fast as possible without causing too much pain to the kunochi in his arms.

* * *

**Konoha, next morning**

Ichigo reached Konoha shortly after sunrise. The massive wall surrounding the village was impressive. Very tall and wide, with polished like a glass outer surface - any direct assault would be a bloodbath. There was a good half kilometer of cleared forest beyond it, making for a great killing ground. That was a plus. Reaching the Leaf, carrying one of their shinobi without meeting a single bloody patrol - not so much. When he neared the gate - a big damned monstrosity, he was finally confronted. A squad of half a dozen ANBU shunshined, surrounding him.

"Halt!" - growled the apparent leader.

Ichigo shook his head. Seriously, did they think that he wounded Kurenai and then decided to bring her to the village doorsteps!? Using the main road for the last leg of the trip. Granted, there were probably a few shinobi who would be crazy/arrogant or good enough to pull it off...

He shook gently the sleeping woman in his arms. Kurenai had dozed off in the middle of the night, her fatigue had gotten better of her still lingering mistrust.

"Hey, sleeping beauty! Please tell these nice fellas that I'm not an enemy! Preferably before they lose patience and start poking me with various sharp objects." - He said cheerfully.

The Uchiha could swear that the ANBU leader's was eyetwiching under his wolf mask.

"Uhm, what?" - came the Kunochi's sleepy voice. She opened her eyes and blinked ,still half asleep.

"Irate ANBU who, by the looks of it don't like me very much. Not to mention that your boss would want to chat with me." - He smiled at the sleepy woman in his hands. She was a cutie, reminding him of his sisters.

Kurenai sniffed innately and looked at Wolf. She pointed with her thumb at Ichigo and said softly:

"He saved me by three shinobi while I was returning from my latest mission. And yes, the Hokage will want to speak with him ASAP, because of his blood line. Please escort him to the tower. "

The ANBU leader nodded at Ichigo with air of something that had the barest hint of respect. He looked at one of his subordinates:

"Eagle, take the jounin of his hands."

"Hey!" - said kunochi showed her indignation.

The ANBU continued unperturbed, waving at Ichigo:

"You, stranger follow us. Let's see if you are worth the Hokages time."

* * *

**Hokage tower**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was waging an eternal war against the bane of his existence - the multi - headed hydra, known as paperwork. The old leader was once again pissed at Namikaze Minato, his predecessor, for not revealing the secret of dealing with the Paperwork from Hell! He was hoping for a crisis, anything really, to get away from the tedious work. Before the mountain of paperwork, under which his desk was barely holding, buried him alive under an avalanche of paper. His prayers were about to be answered. And his headaches were going to at least triple but that's another story...

It all started with a knock on the door.

"Hokage-sama, you have a visitor."

"Enter." - Hiruzen redoubled his prayers. Paperwork is EVIL!

A squad of ANBU, lead by Wolf, escorted a teenager in his office. Black hair, onyx eyes and what looked like a standard shinobi outfit if off a bit by its older design. Naturally, the youth was disarmed before being admitted in.

"Hokage-sama, this man saved Yūhi Kurenai, while she was returning from her last mission. She is in the hospital, being treated. She said that you need to speak with this man, in regards with his bloodline limit." - Wolf reported.

Hiruzen's gaze lingered over the visitor, meeting his unflinching eyes.

"Old man, you may want to decide who knows my story after hearing it. It's connected with an S-class village secret."

Sarutobi's eye twitched at the disrespectful words, his face becoming grim.

Ichigo smiled, channeling a bit of chakra at his eyes. Hiruzen's eyes became cold, calculating. The kid had fully formed sharingan. And he had never seen him before.

"By the way, how's my brother. He's been like a lost sheep for the last few years. "

The Professor glared at the young man. He knew or believed to know too damn much of the village dirty secrets. Hiruzen's left arm curled around a kunai hidden under his desk, just in case. He ordered the ANBU squad to leave and motioned with his free hand to the visitor to speak.

Ichigo's smile disappeared and he started his story:

"I'm Uchiha Ichigo. I awakened my sharingan two weeks ago when my mother died by the wasting disease." - There was a flash of anguish in his eyes, mentioning his mom's name. Itachi had used his real mother name and appearance to craft those memories. The damn bastard.

"I wasn't sure if the story she told me at her deathbed was true, so I came here for answers. According to her, my father was Uchiha Fugaku and I have a couple of half - brothers left. A simple DNA test should be able to reveal if it's true. "

'Damn that old geezer! Fugaku, even makes messes even from beyond the grave, that bastard!' - Hiruzen thoughts were spinning. No matter his parentage, the kid was an Uchiha. With his dojutsu, the accursed council would be all over him, not to mention the bloody CRA (clan restoration act). Not to mention that if the kid turned out to be Fugaku's child, he might be the head of the Uchiha clan at least until Sasiuke was eighteen.

Ichigo dropped his next bomb:

"Was it you, or the council responsible for the kill orders on my whole clan? I know of my father's conspiracy, but it was unnecessary to kill off everyone, even the kids and civilians. I am also aware that my brother Itachi is no traitor."

'Fuuuk! That's one secret that can't see the light of day!' – For the first time in a years the Professor was left speechless.

"So, old man, when is my scheduled R&R with the Torture and Interrogation division and the nearest Yamanaka, cleared for my family's dirty laundry? And, no I don't have my dad's delusions of grandeur. Seriously, how the damned walled compound, all the money, power and not to mention control of the bloody military police was not enough?" - Ichigo shook his head sadly, mirroring the thoughts which Itachi had on the subject.

Sarutobi slumped in his chair, wondering if this youngster was a disaster waiting to happen or potentially one of the best things that had happened to Konoha in years. The reaction would have been enough confirmation if Ichigo did not have a firsthand account of these events.

"You have an appointment with Inoichi. We'll talk afterwards."

* * *

Two hours and one mind rap... cough* interrogation *cough, later Ichigo was again in front of the Hokage who had his head buried in a red little book and was giggling perversely. His vital intake of balsam for the nerves (that being the newest edition of Icha-Icha, with autograph and dedication from Jiraya) was interrupted by an ANBU giving him the short version of the interrogation report. The Uchiha was telling the truth as far as he knew it and apparently wished to join the village's rank of shinobi. That was great. In that respect only few kinks remained to be cleaned up - a DNA test to check if he really was Fugaku's son, which would be an indication of how big the circus with the council will be. After these unpleasant details were passed, there was the test of his abilities to determine his rank. At least according to Inoichi, Ichigo was trustworthy as someone who had grown up outside Konoha could be. Hiruzen only hoped that the council won't cause another Uchiha debacle. On that sore note was another big problem - how Ichigo knew in depth about the massacre. Apparently he had met Itachi couple of years back on the anniversary of the massacre. The "rogue" Uchiha had been hammered that evening and had told everything to his brother. (Ironically, at that time the Itachi, who had sent Ichigo back had been really drunk that night, and didn't remember it. Talk about plausible deniability. The bastard had found a way to screw over his past self! ) Sarutobi would have to send message to Itachi and scold him. Granted, he knew that the actions of that night, weighted heavy on the loyal shinobi but such a slip could have grave consequences.

The Hokage skimmed through the report which Kurenai had just submitted, while Ichigo was waiting impatiently.

"DNA test and when the results are ready I'll present you to the council." - said Hiruzen. He glanced over the mountains of unfinished paperwork at the Uchiha. You did save one of my kunochi, without it being your duty. What would you want as reward?" - It was a loaded question. On one side, a loyal Uchiha would be invaluable asset, and Sarutobi needed to bind him to the village, on another the question was a test.

"Two things, Old man. First I would like to meet my little brother, before the rumors start flying. It will be better if we both get untainted first impressions of each other."

Sarutobi nodded. It was a reasonable request, which was no trouble to grant.

"Second, I'm aware of the so called CRA, and I'll want an extension of the period before needing to marry until I'm at least seventeen, that's two years from now."

"Hmm." - the Hokage was intrigued by that request. If they were able to pull it out, it will be much longer, until the council could get its claws into the kid through a forced marriage contracts.

"I'll see what can be done about the CRA. You'll be staying for couple of days in one of the free jounin quarters, until the DNA test is done and your clan status can be determined. As far as Sasuke is concerned, you can meet him at the academy after the results came in. Naturally until you are made a shinobi of the village, there will be a discreet escort."

"Fair enough." 'Shower and bed, here I come!' - Ichigo thought.

After being prodded with sharp needles in the hospital (and getting a general examination which lasted few more hours), Ichigo checked on Kurenai - who was napping at the time. He went to his assigned quarters, with directions provided by the duo of visible ANBU escorts. At least six more were shadowing them. The Uchiha took a long hot shower, followed by a meal that consisted of two chicken sandwiches and some apple juice. Thankfully the little apartment had come in with a stocked fridge. Ichigo cleaned up the dishes and crawled into bed.

* * *

Early next morning the DNA results were ready, probably breaking the local speed record after few words of encouragement by the Hokage. Yuppee! Ichigo was a proud big brother of one Uchiha Sasuke, who if the memories were right, was a piece of work thanks to Itachi's idiotic use of Tsukuyomi on the kid and the "stellar" performance by the council. Ichigo had his work cut off for him.

Cat, the ANBU who informed him of the results, was a fine lady, who made the uniform looking criminally sexy. (It should be noted that with the notable exception of the local lunatic Anko, considering and treating any kunochi , less than a fine lady was unhealthy proposition. )

" Hokage-sama, sends his regards. You should be able to visit your brother at the academy this morning, before the council meeting which is scheduled at noon."

"You have my thanks, Cat-san." - Ichigo gave her a small bow.

He finished his late breakfast and after a fast shower, headed to the academy, trailed by his escort. He had at most two hours to go there, meet his brother and be at the Hokage tower in time. Half an hour later, Ichigo was there, asking for his brother's classroom. As it turned out, Sasukes' class was on a training ground behind the building for taijutsu practice. Ichigo's first impressions were not good. Sparing, apparently was a equivalent to catfight - one of which was in progress between a pink haired and a blonde girls. Much too young to make it interesting. Not to mention the periodical squeals of " Sasuke is mine, forehead!" and " Take that, Ino - pig, Sasuke-kun's mine!" This spectacle was supervised by a teacher with a horizontal scar running through the bridge of his nose. He looked like was ready to start banging his head on the nearest flat surface in embarrassment.

Ichigo looked for said little brother. Big child, munching chips, another who was sleeping while standing, an indigo haired girl, wearing something resembling an Eskimos coat, a boy with a little, white dog on his head, another boy, wearing blue shirt and white shorts, with a duck nest glued to his head,and an emo to boot... a boy in a trench coat, with sunglasses, a kid wearing orange track suit, which was screaming "Kill me NOW!"... Wait, what?! His head moved back. Sasuke all right. With a duck nest on the head and lethal case of the Emones! That was the first time when Ichigo thought that Itachi had screwed him over royally with his "little boon".

The catfight ended with both girls falling in a heap exhausted, all the while whimpering "Sasuke's mine!" 'Poor, little brother.' - Ichigo thought.

Next fight was between Sasuke and the orange clad child - one Uzumaki Naruto. This was a fast one - Naruto charged the Uchiha screaming, like a street brawler, without any concept for taijutsu. 'What the hell?! Those are supposed to be senior year students, just few months from graduation. With what little was shown so far - the kids were not good enough to take on the thugs of Karakura, not to mention samurai and ninjas. I'll have to talk with the Hokage about that, before these children get killed.' At least his brother had learned the basics, knocking down the orange menace with a well executed academy level combo. The crowd exploded with squeals of girlish joy:

"Sasuke!" - came as a roar from a dozen girls.

Ichigo's little brother looked skittish, like a deer caught in the lights of a speeding truck. Fangirls, the Terror from the Deep! Ichigo shook his head. Too much X-COM. Time to save the kid from the circling sharks.

"Uchiha Sasuke, a word, please. " - The substitute shinigami's voice cut through the sounds of bloodthirsty predators, ahem - joyful fangirls, redirecting everybody attention to himself. Another round of squeals. 'Fuck! I don't need preteen fangirls!'

The teacher roared , using a jutsu which mage his head much bigger: " SILENCE!" - the sheer force of the scream was able to subdue his pupils. 'Got to learn this one!' - thought Ichigo.

"I'm Umino Iruka, the beast handler of these -..." the teacher waved at his charges."Who are you and why do you need to speak with Sasuke during academy hours?"

"Ichigo. Uchiha Ichigo. I need to speak with my little brother before the council makes a circus from my arrival."

Sasuke scoffed. He had only one brother, whose guts he hated. He had never seen this man before.

"I'm aware, that you don't know me Sasuke." - Ichigo's voice became softer, the tone he used to comfort his little sisters.

"Why I wasn't here before is a long story, and this is neither the time and place for it. However do not doubt for a moment that I am an Uchiha." - Ichigo activated his sharingan, mesmerizing the small crowd.

Sasuke was looking at the man with different emotions from the most. He stared at the crimson eyes with three tomoes, not caring if Ichigo was his brother or not. This man had the sharingan and possibly enough power to help him kill Itachi. That was all that mattered for him.

**AN: Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto! They belong to their respective owners.**

**This story was proofread by Zanthraxone! You have my thanks!**

**Bankai!' - thought**

**"Bankai!" - speech**

_**"Bankai!" **_**- Zanpakuto/demon speech**

* * *

**Academy grounds, Konoha**

Ichigo looked at the eager expression of his brother. 'Bloody hell! A power thirsty avenger too! As if him being an emo kid wasn't enough!'

"Sasuke, walk with me." - Ichigo turned his back to the mob of school kids and headed to the far end of the training ground. "How have you been? Who is looking after you?"

"Hn. I'm not a kid! I don't need babysitters! I fine on my own!" - The younger Uchiha grumbled.

'Okay... So the kids, family got slaughtered, he was traumatized even further by fucking genjutsu and "the powers that be" decided that he'll be all right on his own afterwards. I only hope he's not total psycho by now.' Ichigo thought.

"Yup. No babysitters for ya!" 'Riiight.' "However, I recon, you can use a bit of additional, training. I'll have to show you a few tricks, that's what big brothers are for right?"

He kneeled in front of his little brother and patted him on the head gently, trying to avoid that fucking duck nest.

The kid looked him with big eyes, emotions battling on his face. Oh, the anger was there, all right. But there was fear, probably expecting to be betrayed again, and more importantly, a flash of hope. For all the praising that was given to him, Sasuke had been alone in the world since the massacre. There was still a small part left in him, that was hoping for something more than vengeance. Sasuke exploded, venting long suppressed anger:

"Where were you!? Why? Why are you alive, when Itachi killed all the rest?"

"Sasuke, I do not have an answer that will satisfy you. I know that I wasn't there doesn't cut it. Until recently, I was not even aware of my heritage. So, Itachi did not know that I was there to kill. You could say I'm alive because of dumb luck." Ichigo's voice became softer, wrought with feelings:

"But, I know about pain. What it is like to lose your family."

Sasuke scoffed at that, ready to leave. However he was stopped in his tracks by the intensity in the eyes of the elder Uchiha. The boy could see the pain, knew that the man was telling the truth.

"Two weeks ago, I watched my mother die from the wasting disease. As far as I knew, she was the last family member I had left. And if you are wondering, that was too high a price to pay for my sharingan." Ichigo was telling this with tears in his eyes. He was seeing flashes of the murder of his mom by that accursed hollow, followed by images of her dying by the damned disease. The newest Uchiha gazed into his brother's tear laden eyes and embraced the kid.

"You are not alone, Sasuke. You don't have to deal with the pain by yourself."

Sasuke was torn. On one side was all the anger and the instructions pounded into his skull by Itachi. On another hand he was tired of being alone. Simply striving to become stronger was not enough. He felt empty. Yet, Sasuke was afraid to hope. There was a glimpse from the boy he was before Itachi screwed up everything. Sasuke quietly asked:

"You won't go away? You won't die?"

"I can guarantee the first. And I'll do my best not to get killed. I'm just fine in one piece, and much better looking."

"Hn." was the only response. Ichigo wondered if that was Uchiha specific verbal tick.

"Answering with more than one syllable is all right." Then the dimension traveler whispered to his brother: "They won't take off academy points for longer answers, ya know."

Thick mark and glare from Sasuke. "You've_ got your work cut off for you. This one's' denser than even you." _ came the damned whisper.

"Sasuke, now that I've found I have a little brother, I can't let myself die. On the contrary, I just discovered a reason to live."

At least he looks like he's salvageable.

"Well, kido, see you tonight after school. And beware of the fangirls! Evil creatures, I tell you!" - Ichigo smiled at his little brother and patted him on the shoulder.

"It will be all right, Sasuke!" - He added as a goodbye, leaving a confused younger Uchiha.

Time to for a chat with the Old man and that fucked up council.

* * *

**Hokage tower**

Ichigo went to the Hokage shortly before the council meeting. He had a bone to pick up with Sarutobi. He found Hiruzen clad in the full regalia of his office, smoking from a long pipe. The Uchiha's future boss was hidden behind another mountain of paperwork. The scene struck him as strange. There was something wrong with the Hokage spending his whole day buried in paperwork. No wonder problems, Ichigo had seen so far were unresolved. Either the Old man did not have enough time to go around the village and check up what was happening in his domain, or the solution was forever lost in a pile of paper. The Uchiha looked as the Hokage puffed few small clouds of smoke, with content smile. Ichigo was at loss why the smoke reminded him of something.

"Puff." - He muttered.

Sarutobi looked at him strangely.

Ichigo had a flashback of the academy grounds, where while his sharingan was activated, he had glanced at a group of students practicing with clones. The clones were appearing and disappearing in puffs of smoke. Why was this important?

Hiruzen was looking at the Uchiha, wondering where the mind of his visitor was wandering.

The clones used in the academy were little more than a basic exercise, practically useless in the field. So not those clones. Solid clones. That thought sent a torrent of information in the front of Ichigo's mind. Shadow, water, rock and other corporeal clones. Divide the chakra evenly between themselves and the original. Dangerous, can kill by chakra exhaustion. But useful, fighting with ten percent of the original's skills; autonomous, acting as the originals will, when not having orders; upon dispelling transfer memories... That was it! But why Sarutobi was not using a clone for the tedious paperwork? Can't be because he lacked sufficient chakra. Despite being old, the man was a Kage, with one of the greatest reserves in the village. Can it be?

"Sometimes you can't see the obvious under your nose and you need outside perspective." - interjected the voice.

"Old man, I have a few concerns which must be addressed, but before that I have a question. Why are you doing the paperwork by yourself?"

Hiruzen was perplexed by the question.

"Those are documents that need the Hokage signature. I can't leave them to someone else, no matter how much I wish to do so."

Well, that was it. The old monkey had not thought to use clones for that work. Ichigo grinned. Time to score some points with the boss:

"I have a solution for your problem."

Sarutobi perked at that. Was it possible, that this kid had reinvented Minato's way to deal with paperwork!? Hiruzen looked at the Uchiha with hope in his eyes.

Ichigo pronounced two words that changed the world:

"Shadow clones."

* * *

**Interlude**

In another dimension, the Shinigami King, who was munching popcorn and watching the show, jumped in the air screaming with glee:

"Yes! My faithful minion scores! The paperwork is down for the count!" - the god of death promptly created a bunch of clones and sent the to do his paperwork. He sat down, grinning madly, wondering what else his pawn, ahem, substitute shinigami, will discover. That was a great start! The hair brained plan hatched with Itachi may even work!

* * *

**Back to the Hokage tower:**

The Hokage blinked few times, his brain trying to process the information. One equation was flashing in his mind again and again: clones + paperwork = more Icha-icha time. Hiruzen exclaimed:

"Damn me! It is that simple!"

Sarutobi stood up and went to one of the safes hidden in the office. He removed a storage scroll and opened it, revealing a note and another scroll. It read:

* * *

"Hiruzen-san, If you are reading this, then I'm probably dead and you are once again stuck as Hokage. And you've finally found out how to deal with the paperwork! I told you it was simple! As a reward, in the scroll which should be next to this note, is my whole Icha-icha collection. I hope you enjoy it!

PS: Take care of my son Naruto and look after Kushina!

PS2: If I'm alive and kicking, burn this note before my wife sees it. If she finds out about my collection I'm a dead man."

* * *

"Ahh, Minato, all is forgiven." Sarutobi muttered, looking at the storage scroll said to hold a hokage's worth of smut. On a somber note he whispered:

"You are probably turning in your grave knowing how these fools treat your son." Hiruzen shook his head sadly. He was startled when he remember that he was not alone. Damn! He was slipping.

"You heard, didn't you?" - Sarutobi asked, noticing where Ichigo was looking. It was at the portraits of the previous hokages. It was obvious that the hint was enough for the Uchiha to connect the dots. The only question was if he knew about the Fox.

Ichigo stared at the picture of the fourth, remembering the blond boy in orange. His mind was screaming in protest. If it was not for the slip of the Hokage, he might not have connected that kid with the image of one Namikaze Minato. The dimension traveler exploded:

"Are you people out of your Kami damned mind?! Are you trying to get the kid killed, or what?! I just watched a spar between Sasuke and the son of the fourth fucking Hokage! He has no concept of taijutsu! Either he's the sorriest excuse for ninja wanable to live, or his training was sabotaged and so called taijutsu instructors are fucking traitors!" When he finished, Ichigo was almost foaming in the mouth.

Hiruzen was left speechless. That was not what he was expecting, when Ichigo started speaking about Naruto. It can't be that bad, right? The academy instructors should know better... Yet the last time he personally checked was just before Naruto enlisted. May Kami curse those fools to the deepest pits of hell! This was something he'll have to deal with personally. But now he had enough time for it. The Hokage smiled grimly. He was sure that the council had a hand with whatever irregularities were present in the academy. He'll have to deal with them carefully. During the time just after Kyuubi attacked, they had gained too much power to be eliminated directly. With Tsunade out of the village and the Uchiha seat vacant, the best Hiruzen was able to do was to stalemate the council. And that was when all the on the shinobi side of the council voted the same. Thus Sarutobi had to use the Hocage's vote, which should have been used only to break stalemates, in order to block the civilian's disastrous ideas. He had lost count how many times he and the rest of the shinobi had to block a vote to execute Naruto. The Hokage smiled thinly. That was no longer the case. In front of him was an Uchiha old enough to assume the position as Clan Head. With Ichigo being the only loyal Uchiha of age, it fell to the Hokage to decide if he's fit to assume the position (that was made a law by the First, in order to sidestep the inevitable political storm which would ensure otherwise). Hiruzen went to one of the bookshelves along the walls to retrieve the relevant documents. A bit of scribing in the blanks, few signatures and it was done.

"Uchiha-san, let me be the first to congratulate you for your elevation as a clan Leader." - Sarutobi smiled at Ichigo and gave him a small bow.

The Uchiha was stunned at the fast promotion. While he knew that he was technically the only one at this time who could fill this position, he did not expect it to happen this soon, Or this easy. However, the Hokage was grateful to him and Ichigo believed that by this action, the old man not only repaid him but had other motives as well. Gaining a supporter in the council, which was still a somewhat democratic body. Ah, politics at its basest form. Nah, that was "Kill, maim, burn!" or something else in the same line of thought.

"So, Ichigo, you wanted to discuss a couple of issues?" - Hiruzen asked.

The clan Leader nodded and said:

"First is about Sasuke. Whose idea was to leave him to live alone after the massacre? My little brother is a mess, on the way of becoming sociopath. Any particular reason why he wasn't adopted? That goes to Naruto as well. I would have thought that the clans would have given arm and leg for even the chance to raise the last Uchiha and Namikadze."

"In their infinite wisdom, the council decided that your brother will be better alone, so the last Uchiha won't be influenced by one of the bigger clans. "

"And then the big clans blocked all attempts for adoption from the rest.." - Ichigo finished the thought. He did not mention that his brother would have been better in a civilian family than alone. That left Naruto, aka - the orange monster.

"I sense that's not the case when Naruto is concerned."

The Hokage choose his next words very carefully:

"Naruto-kun, is bearing a burden, because of which some foolish people hate him. That is no different when the council is concerned. His parentage is a village secret. So do not go proclaiming it to the world."

"Splendid." Ichigo grumbled. The bloody council again. Well, he was a clan leader now, so dealing with them would be unavoidable. He cleared his throat and spoke:

"My second issue, as it was mentioned before, concerns the academy and what is taught there. As I understand it, my brother is about to graduate in few months. I'm not convinced that he and the other prospective genin are as adequate prepared."

"I'll look at this in the next few days." the Hokage answered. What he was just told about Naruto's training did indeed raise some pointed questions.

"Right now, you should be concerned with the council meeting and the test to determine your skills as shinobi."

* * *

**Council chambers**

Apparently, the council or at least the civilian part of it were a big pain in the ass for the Hokage. It certainly explained why the Old man had put faith in total stranger, signing the paperwork making him a clan head - giving him a seat on the council in the same time. From the short conversation he had with Hiruzen few minutes earlier, it became clear that with his addition to the council, now the civilian and shinobi sides had parity, with the Hokage holding the deciding vote. Ichigo idly wondered when Konoha had become democracy. Well, it was time to feed the piranhas.

The council men and women slowly filled in the chamber, many of them throwing him unpleasant glares. He could see why on their faces - for most of them he was a nobody who had no business being in this chamber. Ichigo suppressed a smirk. So most of the council did not know of him. 'That would be a first - the rumor mill hasn't caught up to current events.'

Ichigo nodded respectfully to the shinobi councilors, most of whom were surprised at his presence. So at least this time the Hokage gag orders had held.

Ichigo found himself sitting between Inuzuka Tsume, on the left, and Yamanaka Inoichi , with the rest of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio to his right. On the other side of the tables was an apparently crippled old man, with bandaged left arm and eye. Danzo A very dangerous man. Now it was time to see how politics here compared to the ones back home.

Before everyone had taken their seats and the council was in session, a nondescript man from the civilian side, bolted from his seat :

"Hokage-sama, why have you gathered us for unscheduled meeting? And what is this stranger doing here?!" the man's tone was all but respectful and his glare did not help his case. Ichigo decided to use a time honored technique - leave them enough rope to hang themselves, the bastards.

The Hokage glared at the councilor, his expression grim.

"Village business." the old man deadpanned. He pointed at Ichigo and said:

"This young man is the reason for this meeting. "

A pink haired banshee screeched:

"Why is this upstart here? And seated, showing no respect for the council!?"

'Oh, boy. If these people act this way, without any fear from the Hokage, the situation is grim indeed.' - Ichigo thought. He looked at the old man and saw him give a small nod. The Uchiha smiled thinly, thinking 'Let's the circus begin!' . He closed his eyes, activating the sharingan. Then he looked the various councilors and introduced himself with cheerful tone, his dojutsu blazing:

"Hi! I'm Uchiha Ichigo. Nice to meet you all! I am the new Uchiha clan head."

For a moment the council froze, staring at his eyes. He could see it in the faces of the civilians - carefully laid plans unraveling. He wasn't the kid, they had spent years grooming as a pawn. For an instant, too fast to see if it wasn't for the sharingan, Danzo's mask had cracked, Ichigo could see murder in the man's eye. The moment passed and Pandemonium insured. The civilian councilors were up in arms, screaming, while the shinobi were looking at him appraisingly.

"He's unknown, can't be on the council!"

"Sasuke's the clan heir! He should be the Uchiha clan leader!"

"We haven't approved him as clan Head!"

And much more droning from the councilors. Attempting to forestall a rising headache, Ichigo released a bit of killing intent, shutting up the civilians. Hiruzen nodded at him in thanks, massaging his temples.

Nara Shikamary stretched, as if just awakening from deep slumber and asked:

"Hokage-sama, any particular reason to appoint him as a clan Leader, besides the obvious?"

Sarutobi spoke:

"He passed DNA test. Ichigo-san is the elder son of Uchiha Fugaku, and I have accepted him as the head of Uchiha clan. As such, he is the new clan Leader. "

Hyūga Hiashi's mind raced. Generally speaking, the Uchiha clan on the ascension, however small, may yet it be, was not in the best interest of his own. In the past they were rival clans, their members often hating each other. However, this youngster was new to Konoha, possibly without all the old feuds taken for granted, he would have been part of otherwise. 'This could be an opportunity. 'he thought. If he could bury the hatched between their respective clans and acquire this Uchiha as an ally, Hiashi could rewrite the political climate in the village for generation to come. There was the fact that was not often mention was that prior to the massacre, the Uchihas were one of the wealthiest clans in Konoha, something not to be taken lightly. Now, with a clan leader, their assets can be unblocked, greatly diminishing the influence of the civilians, whose greatest claim to power was the control of Konoha's purse.

Hiashi turned to the dimension traveler, and with a polite bow said:

"Ichigo-san, welcome to Konoha. It's good to see one of the great clans starting to rise again."

Most of the people in the room threw Hiashi surprised glances. It was unheard of a Hyūga given the smallest nod of respect to an Uchiha. Times were changing.

"Thank you, Hiashi-san." - answered Ichigo with a bow of his own. He continued:

"Considering I'm the center of attention, and my new position, I believe this is the right place to ask for a boon." the head of clan Uchiha looked at Hizuren and smiled.

"Hokage-sama, I'm not sure of the precise administrative process for such things in your fine village, so I thought to ask you. It have been years since my clan had been actually operating so, I think that an audit of all Uchiha account and properties is in order. That is something I believe is best done through your office."

The civilians erupted again, in protest. Danzo glared at the Uchiha, mind spinning. Those accounts were one of the places from which he financed his Ne division. He had also used Uchiha money to buy some of his civilian supporters. Until now, the accounts were "frozen", and should have been untouched until Sasuke became of age. Not to mention, that their care was under the purview of one of his cronies, making sure that most check's made would not reveal anything. However an audit made by people loyal to Sarutobi - that was something else. At least he had the foresight to tweak the books so all leads were pointing at his cronies in the council. Only if the kid had decided to go through the usual channels... This Ichigo had to be dealt with swiftly.

One of civilians scoffed, his face pale:

"That's highly irregular! Their accounting falls under the purview of the civilian council! We will be the ones making any audits, after the proper paperwork has been submitted."

Ichigo's cheerful façade broke and he unleashed his killing intent. The man had basically admitted that the accounts have been tampered and was stalling for time to disappear the evidence. Bloody bastards.

The civilians were crushed under invisible pressure, three of them fainting outright and couple voiding their bowels. Two men, dressed in ANBU uniforms materialized behind Danzo and rushed the Uchiha clan head. They were moving at low jonin speed, with tanto and kunai ready to shred the enemy of their master. Their attack was an ill thought idea, their brainwashing getting the better of them. The duo charged at the middle of the shinobi side of the council. While the clan heads were jumping out of their seats in reaction of the attack, Ichigo was already moving, vaulting over the table to meet the assailants. He had not deactivated his dojutsu, the crimson eyes giving him all the time in the world to react. The attacking duo was moving sluggishly, as far as Ichigo was concerned. Even if his body could do with much training, he was fast enough to use the enhanced perception granted by the sharingan with devastating effects.

"Katon Ninpo: Hibashiri! (Fire Style: Jet Flare) " - Ichigo declared, jets of fire striking the closest attacker at point blank range and blowing him up at the ceiling. In the next moment, the crowd could see how the second rogue shinobi slashed the Uchiha's neck and slammed kunai into his heart. That illusion of victory lasted for a half second when Ichigo was replaced by a now cleaved and impaled stool. The unlucky attacker had no time to left to react as he was torn apart by the furious clan leaders.

"Danzo!" - Hiruzen thundered, stopping the brutalizing of the already dead rogue nin. The eyes of everyone still conscious in the chambers were on the crippled elder. He was pale, eye wide. His Root tools, had fucked up , their actions could be perceived as an attack from him on all shinobi clans. He had no illusions that he could survive such confrontation at this time.

"Clearly, my guards overreacted! I'll never raise a hand against the council!" - Danzo hurried to defend himself.

If he did not know better, Ichigo might even believed him. The crippled man was great actor. The Uchiha decided to twist the knife:

"Danzo-san, pray tell me, what were your guards doing in the council chambers? I was left with the impression that only the Hokage's ANBU could be here when the council is in session. And there is the issue as their gear - closely resembling what they said ANBU wear."

Danzo threw him a dirty look.

"Danzo! Root was ordered disbanded!" - Hiruzen glared at his old rival.

"They were. Those were just my bodyguards. A crippled old man like me needs protection!" - came the answer. Danzo knew that proving his men as an active Roots would be impossible even if they were taken alive. As it was, corpses tell no tales.

"Enough!" - the Hokage shouted, shutting up the crowd. "I'll handle the audit of the Uchiha properties. Uchiha Ichigo's shinobi test will be held tomorrow morning in the stadium. ANBU will investigate the elder Danzo's "bodyguards" .That's all! This meeting is over!"

'So far so good.' thought Ichigo. It went better than he expected, botched murder attempt notwithstanding. What was better, no one mentioned the damn CRA, yet. Yet being the operative word. Before exiting the chambers, Ichigo got met the various clan leaders, getting the expected congratulations for his sudden elevation in statute. Most of them were reserved, waiting for the next day to see his skills. Notable exceptions were Inuzuka Tsume the Hyūga clan leader. The Matriarch of the Inuzuka clan, warned him that he had made an enemy in Danzo. Nothing he did not already know, but it was appreciated. By the surprised reactions of the other shinobi, Ichigo found that Hiashi was uncharacteristically friendly to him. Now, he recalled that there was supposed to be some bad blood between the Uchiha and Hyūga clans. He wondered if Hiashi was trying to mend fences between their respective families or it was some plot to win his trust and screw him over at later date. Well, time will tell. Ichigo had more present concerns - to find better equipment for tomorrow and check with the Hokage to see if something else was required from him.

As it turned out, Sarutobi did require his presence. Ichigo needed to fill some forms in order to authorize the audit. Then he asked Hiruzen for a place to get shinobi equipment. The Hokage was helpful, giving him directions to few good shops.

"Old man, can I use the Uchiha accounts to pay for the equipment? I'm not exactly flush with money right now."

"Yes now that you are the clan Head, so the accounts are at your disposal. Just go to the shinobi bank and you'll be set up." - answered Sarutobi.

"Thanks. Anything I need to know for tomorrow?"

"It will be a demonstration fight. I'll appreciate if you and your opponent try not to kill each other. An ANBU will lead you to the stadium."

"All right and Thanks again!"

When he turned to leave, Ichigo saw the Hokage make a clone to do the paperwork. Speaking of bloody paperwork, that's what, awaited Ichigo in the bank. He was stuck there to mid afternoon, clearing up various issues with his clan's accounts. Ichigo also opened a separate one for his expected income as shinobi and another from which to pay day to day expenses. Finally finishing the paperwork for the day and withdrawing reasonable amount of Ryo, the Uchiha headed shopping.

* * *

First he hit the armor shop, recommended by Sarutobi. After getting his ass handled to himself, by Byakuya and Renji in his home world, Ichigo had acquired a healthy need for protection. He browsed the various protective suits, most of which were pretty useless for heavy duty combat - something Ichigo expected to see a lot. His eyes were caught by a suit of armor hidden in the corner of the shop. It was not something most modern ninja's would consider. The suit had the futuristic look of something that came from few decades in the Earth's future. It was made of interlinked plates, attached over a black inner mesh which had a resemblance to Kevlar, smooth body hugging arm and leg protectors, which integrated seamlessly in the main body of the armor. The same could be said for the gloves, and boots. The plates themselves were black, made by some composite material. They did not feel like a metal to the touch. If he had to compare the armor to something he had seen, Ichigo would have to say that it was like the bastard child of various pictures for light power armor he had seen on the net. It was wicked cool looking. He decided to try it, however, the Uchiha did not believe that it will be practical to use on shinobi dominated battlefield. He asked the shopkeeper, where it came from. The answer was interesting.

The elder man who was tending the shop - a grizzled retired shinobi, who was a veteran from last two great Ninja wars, looked at the armored suit and said:

"It was at the height of the second Shinobi war. I and my team were a part of a strike force sent deep behind enemy lines. We were in the land of Snow, which as you know is the most technologically advanced country in the Elemental nations. They were the greatest weapon supplier to our enemies so we had to destroy as many of their manufacturing sentries and equipment depots. Our first two attacks were a great success, we obliterated the targets with only few wounded. The third however, turned out to be the armor R&D complex of the country. It was more heavily guarded than our Intel suggested. Even worse, minutes after we commenced the assault, our unit was hit by enemy reinforcements. I don't remember much of that battle. It was a fucking maelstrom. Kunai and jutsu flying everywhere, waves of fresh enemies were hitting our left flank. That was the longest night of my life. When the dust settled we had "won". Of two hundred and thirty shinobi, only nineteen of us were left standing. The bastards had lost twice that number, not counting the scientists and workers in the facility. I was one of the three demolition experts still on our feet. While the rest of the survivors treated our wounded and disposed of the dead, we were sent to mine what was left of the labs. While planting stacks of explosive notes, I found this beauty in one of the labs. It is supposed to be a prototype for chakra armor, but it was never finished. I sealed it in a storage scroll, and went to finish my work. Half hour later, we blew the place sky high and made ourselves scarce. We spent the time until the end of the war attacking supply caravans in the land of Snow, making our best to disrupt their logistics. Later, when I returned to Konoha, the use of heavier armor had fallen out of favor and no one spent a second glance at this armor."

Ichigo thanked the man for the story. He tried it on, but it was not a good enough fit. The clan leader wondered if he can find someone who could finish the armor. He bought it anyway. He certainly had enough money to finance his own R&D program. He ended buying a light chain - mesh armor, with a plate chest protector. He added plate arm guards and armored gloves, which were flexible enough to permit unrestricted finger movement. The outfit was completed by black leather pants, which had a lot of pockets and were protection enough from shrapnel. He got two more pairs of combat boots too. Considering the amount of walking and running he'll have to do in this world, so that was a good investment. He made sure that his equipment will be delivered at the Uchiha compound and left, heading for the nearest of the recommended weapon shops. The closest one turned to be civilian owned, with a wide selection of imported items.

Ichigo was browsing the inventory, looking for a suitable blade, when Naruto entered, wearing his eye searing orange track suit. No sooner the proprietor lay his eyes on the kid he screamed:

"Out demon spawn!"

Naruto flinched at the words and bolted. Ichigo had to suppress the desire to gut the trader on the spot and left, following the kid. Catching up to the brat was surprisingly hard.

"Hey, you there, your one of Sasuke's classmates, right?" - Ichigo asked, surprising the kid.

"Oi!" - Naruto jumped in the air startled and tried to run, only to be stopped by a firm hand which caught him on the shoulder.

"Calm down. Care to tell me what that was about?" - The Uchiha asked.

Naruto looked at the young man with huge eyes. He was expecting a beating, not questions.

"Most shopkeepers hate me." - the Uzumaki mumbled.

"Hn. You sure it's not all that orange?" - Ichigo asked.

"Hey! Orange is my favorite color! It's perfect!"

The substitute shinigami looked at the kid critically, thinking 'Is he color blind or something?'

"You want to be a ninja, right?"

"Yes! I'll be just as the Yondaime! And I'll be the next Hokage, dattebayo!" - Naruto started bouncing exited.

"Not, with that outfit you won't. It screams "Kill me!" You'll have to dress properly, not as a bloody clown."

The light in Naruto's eyes diminished. He lowered his head and sniffed:

"These are the only clothes, which they sell me at a price I can afford."

'Da fuck?' - Ichigo thought. The brat must be paid to wear those ... things, not the other way around. The village was going down the drain. Note to self : Make contingency plans to grab whoever sane remains and run for the hills!

Ichigo thought for few seconds, remembering the Hokages recommendations. Not far from here should be a weapons shop, which also deals with general equipment. It was supposed to be owned by ex shinobi, so hopefully no one will try to throw out Naruto.

"Come with me. I wonder if the shopkeepers will try something dumb with me around."

"But.."

"On the double, trooper!"

The shop they were looking for took most of the first floor of three stores building. It had a huge selection of various weapons, with one wall left for standard shinobi equipment. The shopkeeper was a young genin - a thirteen or fourteen year old girl with brown hair, which she was wearing in a Chinese style buns. The ninja was dressed with a blouse in a style from the same county. Ichigo wondered, what was the local equivalent of China, but it was more a set of cultural traits than a separate country in this world.

"Hi! I'm Tenten! How can I help you? What are you looking for?" She bubbled.

'Too much unspent energy' - Ichigo thought.

Naruto had frozen, looking wide-eyed at the genin. For a first time, someone aside from the Ichiraku's accepted him in a shop. No curses or glares. No attempt to beat him.

"I'm here for the sharp, pointy stuff. And this fella -", Ichigo motioned at Naruto, " needs some normal clothes. We can't have the next Hokage blinding the populace."

"Hey!" said brat exclaimed.

Tenten giggled at the man's antics and waved at the stands:

"Please suit yourselves. I'll answer any questions."

"I'm in a need of a sword. Straight, one edged, about meter and a half, preferably." - Ichigo said in a serious voice.

The genin nodded and motioned at one of the stand at the far wall of the shop:

"There are our best swords. Unfortunately, most of them are not of as good quality as our shorter blades. There simply isn't great enough demand for good swords, with most shinobi preferring shorter blades. "

"Hmm. I've noticed this sad trend. I am however fond of swords. I just feel incomplete without a nice blade in my hands." - Ichigo was rambling absent-mindedly.

Meanwhile, Naruto had the unique (from his point of view) opportunity to browse shinobi equipment without being harassed. Grumbling about stupid adults, he took couple of black jump suits and a set of kunai, which was his original intention. He went to the counter, clutching his walled, Mr. Frog.

Tenten came behind the counter and checked Naruto's purchases.

"350 Ryo. Will this be all? Do you need a bag for the clothes?" - She asked, stunning Naruto.

The poor kid looked at Tenten uncomprehending, shaking slightly.

"Hey! Are you all right?" - she asked with concern in her voice.

Ichigo chose that moment to come back to the front of the store. He looked at the kid sadly, having heard the exchange.

"I believe that the rest of the merchants are grossly overcharging him. Those of them, who do not throw him out of their shop outright. I guess, you are one of the few people who have treated him as a person and it shocked him."

"But why?! He's just a kid not out of the academy yet!" - Tenten exclaimed shocked.

"Because most villagers are fucking idiots, that's why." A gravel voice declared from the back of the shop. It belonged to a man in his mid fifties. He had short white hair, in tone with his blind right eye. An ugly scar, centered on his right temple was disfiguring that side of his face. He was wearing a wide, blacksmith's apron over his gray blouse.

"That they are. Almost makes me think twice about joining Konoha." - Ichigo muttered.

The old man looked him over with critical eye:

"I haven't seen you yonder, but you look somewhat familiar."

"I arrived yesterday. It's probably a family resemblance you see. I'm Uchiha Ichigo."

"Ah, the new head of the clan."

"So the rumor mill caught up with me, eh?" Ichigo chuckled.

What was it two - three hours after the council meeting and he was already famous.

"Yeah I hear you made a quite impression with the council. I'm Zaeed Massani, by the way." - said the old man.

"They are not some of my biggest fans." Ichigo looked at the retired shinobi, thinking.

"Tell me, Zaeed-san, do you make custom blades?" - The clan head asked.

"What do you need?" - Massani questioned, his interest piqued.

Ichigo told him his preferences. The veteran nodded and said:

"You sound like someone who knows his swords. I can have it ready by the end of the month. Until then, you'll have to use something from the standard fare."

"Fair enough" Ichigo agreed. He turned his attention at Naruto who was standing still, not yet out of his shock. The Uchiha ruffled the spiky hair of the kid and took the Namikaze out of his funk.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. As I told you, there are still few decent people left around here. Now, run along. I believe you have homework and some training to do!" - saying that, Ichigo left the kid and went to choose a sword.

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

Ichigo surveyed his domain. While the clan grounds were cleaned up from all signs of the massacre, the buildings had an un-kept appearance, complete with flaking paint and a few cracked windows. There were a lot of places where tuffs of grass were growing unchecked. When you add the damn wall surrounding the compound, the place looked like a damned prison. He'll have to do something about that. First, though it was time to check on his brother. Ichigo wandered around for about fifteen minutes, before finding Sasuke. The kid was on the ground, panting, obviously exhausted from training.

"Lil' Sasuke! How was your day?" - Ichigo exclaimed all too cheerfully.

The younger Uchiha glared at his so called brother, who was grinning at him. The clan heir spat venomously:

"Fan girls! After you came to the academy, I couldn't get away from them! They mobbed me! It's your fault!"

Ichigo cringed, nodding in sympathy:

"I feel for you. Those are eeevil creatures! Well, my young apprentice, you'll need more training to evade this particular menace. But first, before we continue, you need a bath." Ichigo sniffed at his brother, and shuddered.

Sometime later, Ichigo had unwrapped his purchases, and stowed him in one of the free rooms in the building where his little brother was living. By this time Sasuke was taken a shower and was presentable. Ichigo called his brother to the kitchen, which was on the first floor, where the elder Uchiha was preparing dinner.

"Sasuke, we can talk here. I've checked for listening seals and have a few clones patrolling. As I said earlier, some of my story is not for general public to know." Ichigo told his brother, while cutting vegetables on the kitchen counter. Next to him could be heard the hissing sound of frying chicken. The duck haired boy grabbed a kitchen knife and joined his newfound relative at the task of slaughtering onion.

Ichigo watched his brother noticing his sure grip on the knife handle and the practiced ease and speed with which he was cutting the vegetables.

"A question for a question, all right? You go first." - The clan Leader said.

Sasuke stopped for a few moments thinking.

"You are obviously an Uchiha, the sharingan kind of confirms it. You say you are my brother. How did that happen?" Sasuke asked, for a first time showing a bit of maturity.

"You, see this comes in the ground of clan business. No need to show to outsiders all of our dirty laundry." Ichigo started. If Sasuke was surprised of the somewhat outlandish way his relative was speaking he did not show it.

"Well, dad, and yeah I'm speaking about Fugaku, met my mother seventeen years ago. I believe I won't have the explain the whole "bees and birdies" thing, right?" - Ichigo asked with forlorn hope.

"Hn. No, we covered that at the academy." - stammered Sasuke.

"Ah. That's great!" - The big brother smiled relieved. "So, mom and Fugaku were together and nine months later I appeared. As you can guess, at that time he was already married to your mother. What's more important, if you got your math straight, I'm a year older that Itachi. Which would have made me the clan heir, despite my bastard status. And that could have started a political storm within the clan, something no one needed or wanted at the time. So I was raised and trained by my mom Masaki, who was a kunochi, oblivious to the rest of the family. You know how it goes from there. "

Ichigo watched as Sasuke eyes flashed with anger at the news of their father's indiscretion, but the kid settled down soon. 'Fuck! I just thought of Fugaku as my father! Damn, you Itachi!'

"My turn. Any friends at the academy?" - the clan head asked.

Sasuke had to think long and hard for answer. While he was doing that, Ichigo took the cut vegetables and added them to the chicken, slowly stirring the mixture.

"Not really. Once I might have considered the dobe as such but he's such an loud idiot." - Sasuke mustered quietly.

"Hm. No girl friends?"

Sasuke scoffed:

"They are all darn fan-girls! Can't stand any of them." - he became thoughtful for a moment, then added: "The only one who is not a such thing never speaks to me and is constantly fainting!"

Ichigo smirked and asked:

"Care to elaborate? Who's the so called dope, and the girl?"

"Naruto. You saw me kick his ass!" Sasuke said with pride.

"It was well executed takedown, but you should consider that he is not trained adequately. Any idea what's with that? He's your year and should be ready to graduate by now."

Sasuke was torn between exuberance at the praise and anger at the followed diminishing of his accomplishment.

"Brother, you did well. Your technique and timing were good. I do not mean to belittle your victory. I believe that you'll be able to best an opponent who has similar training. But you should consider why your classmate is not trained to same level. Sasuke, you will be a shinobi in just a few months. You should be able to notice these things and reach correct conclusion." Ichigo said.

"Hn." - Sasuke gave his trademarked reply, deep in thought.

"Naruto is your class mate. A future Konoha shinobi, and one day, sooner than you think, your life may depend on his actions. So when you look it from this angle, tell me what you think. Why he has not even the basic taijutsu training?"

Ichigo left his brother deep in thought and focused his attention on the cooking. He added the rest of the spices, a bit of wine and left the chicken and vegetables to stew. As his big brother was preparing the diner, Sasuke was reflecting on his days in the academy. Part of him had found it natural that the dope was often kicked out of class. However, then he thought about the taijutsu lessons and was startled what he recalled. The instructor was teaching Naruto wrong, But why? And who else was sabotaged? He gulped. Were his achievements in the academy questionable too?

"He's still a dope. But when I think about it, it's obvious. I do not know why, but he is being sabotaged. And if one students progress is tampered with..." Sasuke trailed off.

"You are wondering who else's studies were messed with. Fearing that you are either being outright sabotaged or all the praise given to you is overstatement of your abilities." Ichigo finished the thought. Then he smiled:

"Well, the Hokage is looking into it, and Ibiki and co, will soon have new playmates. As far as you are concerned, I'll make sure that you are ready and graduate with honors. Continuing that train of thought, do you know how the genin teams are formed?" Ichigo asked, after a stray bit of information from the memories of Itachi had flashed through his mind.

Sasuke shook his head.

"Usualy, the top dog, gets paired with the best kunochi and the dead last." - Ichigo smirked, enjoying the look of dawning horror which appeared on his brother's face.

Sasuke whimpered and started bashing his head on the corner. "The Dope!" Smash! "Sakura!" smash, "The pink Banshee!" smash.

Ichigo's face paled. He asked, fearing the answer:

"Is she the president of your fan-club?"

The dreaded answer came: smash, "Queen...", two more head bashes, "fan-girl..."

"I feel for you, brother. We may be able to straighten up Naruto, but the fan-girls..."

"Hn, the dope will fail again. He couldn't pass the last two times. Naruto can't make a Bushin to save his life."

"Hm, really?" - was Ichigo's answer. "We'll see about that."

They dined, speaking about what Sasuke had learned in the academy. In Ichigo's opinion it was far from enough.

* * *

Next morning, Sasuke awoke from a strange dream. He stretched and went to the bathroom, pondering what it meant. He had dreamt that he had another brother - a relative who Itachi did not kill. That he won't be alone anymore. He should have known it was a childish dream. The morose thoughts of the young Uchiha were interrupted by a loud crash and indignant girlish squeal. Sasuke paled. That was Ino! He looked around for a suitable hiding place. The door of his bedroom was suddenly opened, and a young man entered.

"Sasuke! Great, you are up! Breakfast's ready!"

Sasuke looked at his brother with wide eyes. It wasn't a dream! Ichigo was real! The younger sibling released a breath, he did not know, he was holding.

"Aaarh!" - Another scream was heard, taking Sasuke's attention. He exclaimed:

"What, in Kami's name is happening here?!"

Ichigo chuckled evilly:

"After last night conversation, I decided that installing some defences against impudent fan-girls would be a prudent thing to do. It was a good thing too." - Ichigo led his little brother to see what was caught in the defenses.

On the first floor they found Ino, stuck halfway through an open window. She was cocooned by ninja wire. The fangirl looked at the grinning Ichigo and paled. The clan head, lead the way to the back of the building, where they found Naruto, hanging from the ceiling, his legs bound by a loop. The attempt of the Uzumaki to free himself were futile. At least the kid was wearing one of his new track suits, and was no longer an eyesore. On the floor below Naruto, was a packet of itching powder.

Ichigo smirked.

"We caught ourselves a prankster, eh?"

"Dope." "Teme." - The kids greeted each other.

Ichigo smirked at the display. He pocketed the powder and released Naruto, saying:

"There are pancakes in the kitchen, help yourselves. I'll be along shortly."

While Sasuke reluctantly showed a grumbling Naruto the way, Ichigo disappeared. Soon they heard and indignant shriek from Ino. Ichigo returned moment's later, empty packet in hand.

"That will hopefully teach her some manners."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and snickered at the thought of their classmate covered by the powder.

Ichigo motioned at the steaming pancakes:

"Dive in."

He went deeper into the kitchen and took a cup of tea. The breakfast was apparently good, if the speed with which it was wolfed is any indicator. He did not miss the glares the children were throwing at each other. 'That will take some work."

"Naruto, I hear that you can do with some more training. And there is that little problem with the clones..."

At the mention of training, the hyperactive blonde started bouncing in his seat, but when he heard "clones", a sudden sense of gloom surrounded the trio. You could almost see a black cloud over Naruto's head.

"Don't worry. We'll deal with it before the exams."

The Uzumaki perked at that. Someone was finally willing to teach him!

They were interrupted by the arrival by an ANBU - Cat, again. She hid her surprise at seeing Naruto at breakfast with the Uchihas well and gave a polite bow to Ichigo:

"Uchiha-sama, the Hogake requests you presence at the stadium in a hour. I'll be escorting you there."

"Well, I guess, that is all for this morning kids. Good luck at school." - Ichigo finished his tea and stood up and went to prepare, ignoring the children's bickering. Twenty minutes later, after a fast shower, Ichigo was ready.

* * *

**Konoha Stadium**

Sasuke was in the stands, along with the rest of his class. This morning, the classes were canceled so the prospective genins could see how shinobi fought. He had been a bit jealous, when his brother suggested to train Naruto, but soon relented. He still scoffed at the thought that his life may depend on the dope, but intellectually knew it was possible. He had even accepted him as a clan head, after few minute of angry muttering, but for once common sense had prevailed. After all, it will be at least four more years until Sasuke could hold the position. The well made point about the council possible mishandling of the clan's fortunes had helped too. Ichigo was not out of the hot water, however. Sasuke's big brother had somehow failed to mention that he'll have his shinobi examination today. For the all of Konoha to see, too. The result was predictable - Sasuke had been bombarded with questions he had no answer for, not to mention that his fan-girls were bloodthirsty than usual.

The announcer's voice boomed, silencing the crowd. He was using Iruka's patented Big Head Jutsu. The villagers were eager to see their new Uchiha.

"We are here today to determine the abilities and shinobi rank of Uchiha Ichigo, clan leader of the Uchiha clan. The combat will be until unconsciousness, yield or stopped by the referee. Uchiha-sama, come to the arena." - thundered the announcer.

Ichigo's armored form shunshined next to the ANBU proctor, who was in the middle of the arena. The Uchiha's opponent appeared in a swirl of leaves. Ichigo was looking at the hunched form of a white haired cyclops, who had his face buried in an orange book.

"Hatake Kakashi!" this time the thunder was caused by the Hokages irate voice.

"Huh, what?!" - exclaimed the ex ANBU.

"BEGIN!" - ordered the Hokage.

**AN: Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto! They belong to their respective owners.**

**This story was proofread by Zanthraxone! Thank you for the great work!**

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**Reviews:**

**NIX'S WARDEN: I cleaned up the mistakes I found in the first chapter. If you or any of my other readers find something I've or my beta reader missed, please pm me and I'll fix it.**

**OneSilverWing9: I'll try not to add too many clichés in the story, though I just had to get some of them out of my system :D**

**Zero: You got that right :D I thing she's a very good candidate. With Ichigo being from another world, I believe he'll have a easier time connecting with someone who is at least a bit of an outcast!**

**hornet07, jimmythereptile, VicRB : Sasuke will get his act cleaned up in time. If he get in the clutches of the bloody snake lover, it won't be by his free will!**

**Friaku, Ryujin Zangetsu 17 : This won't be a bashing fic. The characters will grow up and fix their issues. Sakura and Ino for instance will get over their fangirl obsession and become competent kunochi. However, as portrayed in the anime, while in the academy and shortly after graduating, the girls are not exactly something to writhe home about. I do not believe that bashing for bashing sake is necessary. If you think that I went overboard with please tell me so.**

**Ryujin Zangetsu 17 : Ichigo will grow more serious over time as he and Konoha have to deal with bigger and deadlier problems. His overly sarcastic and cheerful streak is a coping mechanism. He did get thrown into the Shinobi world, where for all intents and purposes he is a hired killer. He needs something to help keep his sanity. For example you can look at Kakashi, Hiruzen and Jiraya's obsession with smut not only as a comic relief but their own dealing mechanism.**

* * *

**Bankai!' - thought**

**"Bankai!" - speech**

**"Bankai!" - Zanpakuto/demon speech**

* * *

**Konoha Stadium**

Kakashi looked at the Uchiha before him, the newcomer reminded him of Itachi. The ex ANBU hands blurred, his precious book replaced by kunai . The jonin revealed his left eye, fully mature sharingan glowing for all to see. Hatake charged forward, weapon poised to strike. The assault was over before the civilians in the audience could comprehend that it truly began. Kakashi's hand was stopped by strong grip, the gleaming point of his kunai resting millimeters from Ichigo's Adam's apple. The copy nin eyes smiled and he started glowing:

"All too easy!" he said.

The Uchiha answered with a smile of his own, his body pierced by rays of light:

"Got to love MAD!" The clone of Ichigo exclaimed.

The arena was lit up by the dual flashes of explosions, thunder and over pressure wave slamming in the stunned spectators. Sasuke and his classmates were looking openmouthed at the casual display of power. The dust cleared, blown away by a wall of compressed air, a mere backslash of a 'Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)' . The spectators could see Ichigo and Kakashi staring at each other, standing on the opposite edges of the meter deep crater made by their opening gambit.

"Sharingan Kakashi" The Uchiha mussed, "Not an opponent to be taken lightly." - He declared, his body dissolving in a flock of crows.

The black birds "Kawed", flying to the sky, from where, their numbers split and dive bombed. The feathery projectiles hit the ground with a muffled "thump", forming a circle around Hatake. From the impact points, thirty identical clones of Ichigo raised. The Doppelgangers drew their swords and pointed them at Kakashi. The bushins smiled and turned into separate flock of ravens, the sound of hundreds clapping wings drowning everything else. An avalanche of feathery arrows shot at the ex ANBU, covering the arena with shadows. Kakashi did not react, his sharingan allowing him to see through the genjustsu. The raven swarm only effect on him was to blur the surrounding area, making it harder to look for the real Ichigo. The first birds passed through the Konoha shinobi harmlessly, however hidden in the flocks were a few different ravens. They were chakra constructs, with just enough mass to permit a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Change of Body Technique). When his impromptu familiars were in place, Ichigo acted.

He flashed through the swarm, rapidly appearing, throwing a few kunai and replacing himself with another of the corporeal birds. Kakashi was startled by this strategy, his sharingan allowing him to see what the Uchiha was doing. It was a crude imitation of his sensei's feared Hirashin, but nonetheless effective. It also showed the caliber of his opponent. This novel use of the Kawarimi, made the "E" rank jutsu a deadly technique, however it required incredible control and precision. The way Ichigo was flashing from point to point around the jonin, always facing Hatake, was uncanny, the rain of kunai and shuriken were lethal. Kakashi twisted and weaved around the projectiles, his perceptions enhanced by the sharingan eye. The copycat was deflecting with his kunai whichever projectiles he could not avoid, yet inevitably, a few made their way through his guard. There were just too many to stop, and the genjutsu was distorting his vision just enough to prevent him from seeing an object with which to replace himself and get away from the trap. It also acted as a penetration aid for the attacks, allowing a few more weapons to slip by his last ditch defensive efforts. When the onslaught ended, Kakashi was still on his legs, but he was spouting more than a dozen slashes all over his body, with many more bruises from the hits of projectiles which did not penetrate his light armor.

The white haired Cyclops found himself facing a panting Ichigo, who was grinning at him. The Uchiha had underestimated how much the hundred replacements done in little more than a minute would strain his body. While less effective against an opponent of such caliber as Kakashi, this technique could be murder against a group of lesser opponents. The substitute shinigami made a mental note to add explosive notes to the projectiles next time he decided to use this jutsu.

"That was impressive." - congratulated Kakashi.

The jonins in the audience, whose eyes could follow what had happened, had to agree. The stunt pulled out by the Uchiha could conceivably decimate a small army.

"Thanks. Though you just had to survive, didn't you? And here I was hoping to finish my day early!" Ichigo joked.

The eyes of the two sharingan users met and they charged, too fast for the civilians to follow. Kunai met long sword in a shower of sparks, Ichigo using the longer reach of his weapon to keep his more experienced opponent at bay. Their weapons danced in a performance of deadly blade work, the opponents fighting to a standstill. Then Kakashi used the kunai in his left hand to turn the sword away, opening the Uchiha for a counterattack. The copycat lunged forward, his right arm striking as an angry viper. The kunai in his arm was aimed at Ichigo's left shoulder, in a point where it would incapacitate the clan head's arm. The weapon struck with scream of tortured metal, impacting Ichigo's armor. The plate was dented but held, the kunai sliding over it and leaving a deep gouge. The Uchiha returned the favor, bashing Hatake in the face with the pommel of his sword. The jonin stumbled a step back, his left cheekbone cracked. Kakashi jumped backwards, his fingers busy making hand signs:

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire Style - Art of the Phoenix Flower, the Touch-me-not)" a dozen football sized fireballs shot from the hands of the shinobi, raining at Ichigo.

The Uchiha weaved between the first half of the fiery missiles, when large shuriken puffed into existence in the hearths of the remaining fire spheres. Ichigo's eyes widened, his sword moving to intercept the nearest weapon. He deflected that one, stepped aside from second and blocked third with his blade. The fourth slashed his left biceps, the last pair screaming at him, too close to evade or intercept. In the last moment Ichigo used Kawarimi to replace himself with a cobblestone blown away by the earlier explosion. The shurikens struck it with enough force to break it in pieces. The clan leader had no time to catch his breath, because he had to evade a flight of kunai with attached hissing explosive notes. Ichigo dived to the right, the improvised rockets passing over him and exploding, to no ill effect. The Uchiha retaliated with a one of his clan's specialties Fire.

"Katon: Karyu Endan!(Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!)" - Ichigo exhaled a stream of fire, forcing the charging Kakashi to hastily jump away.

"Suiton: Teppōdama! (Water Release: Gunshot) "answered Kakashi, somehow spitting trio of water bullets without revealing his face. Ichigo evaded two of them, the third grazing his chest and tearing away his tactical vest and the plate armor protecting his torso. Ichigo was thrown back by the force of the glancing blow, hitting the wall of the arena. His sword had been lost, flying away from his arm. The Uchiha body flickered to the other side of the stadium, gaining some breathing room. The dimension traveler had to regain the initiative. Showing off a bit wouldn't hurt either. Ichigo concentrated, kneading chakra within his lungs, for the first time using one of his favorite jutsu at full power.

"Katon: Karyu Endan!(Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!)" - This time, the flames he exhaled were not the thin stream of a flamethrower. Instead the fire condensed in front of the caster, forming a great fiery dragon. The reptile made of roaring flames, shot forward, elongating while traveling. Its wings were spread wide, creating a three-pronged attack at the area it hit. Half of the arena was engulfed by searing flames, the cobblestones glowing white, half - melted. The crowd was left gasping at the display, the people on the front seats backing away from the heat. Sasuke was concerned when it looked like his brother was losing, but now the younger Uchiha was watching the spectacle with amazement. While his power-hungry part was still present and tickled pink at the display, there was another facet of his personality, one which had not reared its head since Sasuke was a care free child. Surprisingly enough it was not something selfish as many would have expected. Sasuke felt pride in his brother and a glimmer of hope. Ichigo might be strong enough to survive in the shinobi world!

A minute later, the inferno exhausted itself, leaving in its wake a charred devastation. In the middle of the affected area was a small hill, its sides melted to glass. Kakashi escaped the fused tomb, which his protective dome had become by using: Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique). His attempt to surprise the Uchiha failed, Ichigo's sharingan noticing the hint of a tremor at the place where Hatake emerged from the ground. Kakashi shot from the earth, walking straight into the waiting hands of the clan leader. A knee in the gut helped his upward motion, the Uchiha using the opportunity to deliver a devastating taijutsu combo. Ichigo was using his clan's style, which was an amalgamation of the various taijutsu types faced by Uchihas during the years. The only notable problem for a master of that style was when faced by both faster and stronger opponent. Outside of that, the Uchiha trained in that school held a distinct advantage. However, Kakashi had faced opponents with the same training, and he too possessed the sharingan. After the first solid hits delivered by Ichigo, the combatants were at stalemate, their dojutsu and speed allowing them to parry and dodge their adversary attacks with relative ease. To the silent spectators, the taijutsu combat looked like a well choreographed dance, punctuated by closing in a lightning exchange of strikes, followed by separation of the fighters, a quick plan of the next attack and a new clash. Both combatants were bruised and bleeding, but the shinobi in the stands could see the tide shifting. They knew that Kakashi could not use his sharingan for prolonged periods of time; the implant was quickly siphoning his chakra reserves. Ichigo was not so limited. The Hatake held his own for few more seconds, then the fatigue set, his speed falling drastically. The Uchiha saw this opportunity and dived in viciously, slipping his strikes as an assassin's dagger between Kakashi's too slow attempts to block. The Uchiha delivered a series of attacks aimed at pressure points along the jonins body, incapacitating his left hand. Only a desperate shift in the last moment, permitted Kakashi's continued defiance. The pinpoint strikes which should have knocked him out, missed by millimeter, merely producing grunts of pain. In a desperate bid for victory, Hatake channeled his remaining chakra in one last jutsu :

"Rassengan!" - Kakashi shouted, one of the Fourth Hokage signature jutsus appearing in his right hand. The sight of the twisting sphere of blue, spinning chakra , produced shouts of awe from the crowd.

The ex ANBU, charged at Ichigo with surprising speed. The Uchiha smirked at his attacking opponent, making and eye contact with him. What the sharingan wielder did, would not have been possible unless Kakashi was on his last legs, with chakra reserves almost gone. Ichigo met the gaze of the attacking man and smiled. Hatake's both eyes blazed crimson, the tomoes of the Uchiha's sharingan visible in them. The clan Head did not move to avoid the Rassengan, yet the attack missed by a large margin, its wielder passing close by the intended target. Ichigo moved, delivering a chop to the back of the neck of his hypnotized opponent. Kakashi fell to the ground unconscious, the Rassengan dispelling harmlessly. The stands exploded with cheer, the villages ecstatic at the display of their new Uchiha. With a fake smile Ichigo waved at the crowd and bowed to them. The Uchiha clan leader was painfully aware that he only won because Kakashi's sharingan was too chakra hungry. Most of the time the more experienced man had the advantage. This test made clear to Ichigo that he could not count only on the skills granted to him by Itachi. There was a lot of training and studying in the clan's extensive libraries in his near future.

In a swirl of leaves, the Hokage appeared next to Ichigo. Sarutobi's voice thundered:

"Uchiha Ichigo, you demonstrated splendid abilities! It is my pleasure to grant you the rank of Jonin in Konohagakure no Sato! " the cheer intensified if that was possible.

Ichigo fell to one knee in front of the Hokage, showing his respect. The old man produced a Konoha head protector, engraved with the leaf - shaped spiral, the village symbol. Hiruzen gave Ichigo the protector, thus making him a shinobi of Konoha.

_"You did well, Ichigo!"_ The voice whispered.

* * *

**Uchiha clan compound, that evening**

Ichigo was glad to be home after the circus which followed his victory. Apparently he was the new village icon. Great for the citizens, not so much for him. Now he could expect a bunch of "showcasing" missions, which would be a splendid publicity stunts and revenue source for Konoha (and his own pockets, jonin after all were paid rather well). However, that meant for him many forays where enemy shinobi will be trying to bag themselves an Uchiha, giving him the opportunity to die heroically. He'll have to be out of the village, leaving his brother alone. That train of thought led to a chat with the old man. Ichigo managed to make his point to the Hokage, so for the next few months, he'll be taking only missions that were expected to last a week at most. That in turn, led to his current meeting with Sasuke and Naruto, who have become card-carrying members of his fan club. Unfortunately the kids informed him of his forming legions of fan-girls. Suddenly, the prospect of scraps with ninjas out for his blood (and eyes) didn't sound so bad. On a brighter note, he had received various invitations from both shinobi and civilians alike. Two of them were notable - first was a dinner invitation by Hiashi, acting in his clan Leader persona. That was something unheard for generations - an invitation for the Uchiha clan head by the Hyūga's. Attending was mandatory; to do otherwise will be taken as a slap to the face. The other important invitation was for the weekly pocker game held by the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, which according Itachi's memories, was a great place to get to know most of the best village jonin's and catch on the current events.

"So, boys as anticipated, I'll start doing missions in couple of days. While I'm in the village, I will be training both of you. When I'm out working, I'll be leaving you instructions on what to train. We'll be starting tomorrow, with endurance and chakra control exercise. When I have a better Idea of your current levels, I'll have to make separate regiments for each of you." The clan leader declared, while the kids were busy decimating the dinner. 'Note to self - teach Naruto some table manners ASAP.' - there were pieces of food flying everywhere, while the hyperactive blonde was assaulting a beef steak.

"It's great! Almost as good as ramen!" - Naruto exclaimed when his plate was picked clean.

Sasuke was smirking while still halfway through his dinner, watching the show. At least Ichigo's brother was starting to show small traces of being a human being. Not too bad for couple of day's work.

* * *

Next morning, during a wake up run around the village Ichigo and the kids were scarred for life. They met a terrible creature, and its unholy spawn. Those ... things were man shaped, covered with a green spandex and had hair in the shape of bow. And the greatest, fuzziest eyebrows the Uchiha clan leader had ever seen. When those beasts had seen Ichigo leading Sasuke and Naruto for a run, they had embraced each other screaming:

"LEE!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

They continued to shout the same thing, adding something about undying flames of youth. That was not the worst. The Genjutsu... It was indescribably terrible, something to make Ibiki proud! Despite making the appropriate sign and screaming "KAI!" on the top of his lungs, Ichigo was unable to dispel it. The elder Uchiha was thankful that his sharingan was not active - searing this madness into his mind would have been a fate worse than death. Ichigo and the kids broke the current speed record, running back to the compound, chased by screams about the damned flames of youth. The clan Head did not want to have anything to do with such things, especially if they were to blame for that horror. It took an hour for the trio to calm themselves enough to continue training. That was done with Ichigo's solemn declaration:

"From now on, all the morning runs will be made within the compound!" He made a mental note to keep the wall. Now he understood its purpose - to protect the Uchihas from such a nightmarish sights.

Ichigo led his young charges to one of the private training areas in the compound, going near one of the threes surrounding the open space. The Uchiha grabbed a few fallen leaves and stuck them on the back of his hand with chakra. He showed it to the kids and said:

"Now listen carefully, this is important. No matter how much chakra you have," - he threw a pointed look at Naruto: "you'll be a mediocre shinobi at best if you lack control. That also means that if a ninja with medium reserves, but great control, can be a devastating opponent. Take my fight with Kakashi - he is one of the strongest jonin in Konoha, and while his chakra is nothing to write home about, he used some pretty powerful jutsu while had his dojutsu active."

"What do you mean sensei?" - asked the blonde.

"His sharingan eye is an implant, so that leads to two big problems for him. First Kakashi can't deactivate it - so that's the reason to have it always hidden. This leads to the second - as he is not an Uchiha, the dojutsu draws staggering amount of chakra when in use. In contrast, I can use my sharingan almost constantly, while barely feeling any drain."

"So when I awaken mine, I'll to be able to keep it up most of the time?" - Sasuke inquired.

"In the fullness of time yes. However I'm not sure if it has something to do with how much your body has matured, so it might be a few years until you can use it for long periods of time. I'll have to check the clan's archives for that."

While Sasuke had already read through them he did not find much. The Uchiha clan, were a healthy paranoid bunch and most of the sensitive information was written in such a way that one needs an active sharingan in order to read it. That was something Ichigo had couple of clones doing right now.

"Now back to the exercise. Grab a leaf and keep it stuck to yourselves by using chakra. When you get the hang of it add more leaves. You'll be doing this until you can keep up at least couple dozen on you. "

Ichigo left them to do the exercise, while he trained with a katana nearby. He was hoping to transform the glares the kids were exchanging into a friendly rivalry. After sending the kids to school, Ichigo went shopping again, needing new armor. For now he was set as far swords were concerned - he had found one of the Uchiha clan armories, which, while not having suitable armor, was chock full with decent katanas. For the rest of the week it went that way - he trained the children in endurance, speed and chakra control, while improving his blade work. The Hokage finished his investigation at the academy, sacking a third of the teachers and sending them to "discuss" their behavior with Ibiki. The T&I department was busy for the rest of the month. The Uchiha clan leader was coming to grips with his new life and the person he was now. The kids helped him with that - they were growing at him, and he was truly starting to think of them as part of his family on par with his little sisters. There were some pangs of pain when he thought of Yuzu and Karin, who were dimension away. Ichigo wondered if he'll ever see the girls again.

* * *

**Hyūga Clan compound**

The evening of the day when the academy scandal was made known to the public, was the one when the Uchiha was invited to dinner by Hiashi. Ichigo had decided to bring Sasuke along. The kid needed to go out more and as a clan heir, he had to be familiar with formal affairs. They were wearing formal deep blue kimonos, with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back. Ichigo was holding a gift for his host - a rare bottle of wine, from the year before the massacre. There was something not know to the world at large - the one of the big income sources for the clan was one of the best vineyards in the Elemental countries, which had been closed since the tragedy. To Ichigo's surprise the wine cellars in the compound were mostly intact, the good stuff hidden behind a still active genjutsu. One of his long term plans was the restoration of this facet of the Uchiha legacy.

The brothers reached the entrance of the Hyūga compound, where they were greeted by two branches of the house gate guards.

"Uhciha-sama, Hiashi-sama is awaiting you in the dining room." One of the guardsmen greeted.

Ichigo answered with a deep nod, almost a light bow and motioned at the men:

"Then by all means, lead the way."

The dining room was richly decorated, lit up by discreetly placed lamps. Hiashi was first to greet the Uchihas , accompanied by his daughters Hinata and Hanabi. Behind the Hyūga clan head, were the elders, most looking at Ichigo and Sasuke with barely concealed hostility. After exchanging the expected pleasantries, the dimension traveler, gave his host the gift. Hiashi was pleasantly surprised when he unwrapped the package it was a bottle of Fire wine. Noting the make and year he noted in understanding. The Uchiha knew their wine. It was a rare wine, and since the yard making it was now closed, the gift was priceless.

While dining, they were conversing on neutral themes, with Ichigo leaving his host to lead the conversation. He had noted how Hiashi was talking, carefully choosing his words in order not to aggravate the elders even more. They eventually reached the day's big news, what was to become known as the Academy Affair. Hiashi had noted the persisting rumor that the Uchiha clan leader had something to do with uncovering the scandal.

Ichigo swallowed a bite of marinated chicken and looked thoughtful for a moment. He spoke, pointing at his little brother, who had been polite but mostly silent so far:

"I first met Sasuke at the academy, during a sparring match between the kids. It was obvious that the few I saw fighting were far below of where students on the verge of graduation should be. I mentioned that to the Hokage and today we saw the results."

"Indeed." Hiashi said his expression a stone mask.

You can say a lot of things about the Hyūga clan leader - he was a stiff, cold man, and judging by his actions you'll be surprised to know that he loved his daughters. Ironically enough, that was the reason for his behavior towards his eldest Hinata. He was terrified of the likely possibility of her loosing the status as clan heir and being branded with the clan's curse seal, and was pushing his daughter beyond any reason in a misguided attempt to protect her. He glanced at Hinata with a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the idiots at the academy were to blame for her underwhelming performance...

Ichigo did not miss the look, figuring what his host must be thinking about. The Uchiha said:

"The fellas at the academy made a fine mess. It'll be interesting to see what Ibiki finds out. But it is sure they messed up the progress of a lot of kids. That's the reason I'm giving additional training to Sasuke and one of his classmates."

The elders perked up at that. An Uchiha training someone outside of the clan when he was not a jonin-sensei?! Another thing that was unheard of. An elderly woman, who had passing resemblance with Hiashi asked:

"Uchiha-san, who is that you are training?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." - Ichigo deadpanned. He smiled politely, awaiting the explosion.

The elders exploded to the embarrassment of Hiashi.

"That demon!"

"You should stop training him immediately!"

"He can't be allowed to become stronger!"

"The Kyuubi brat should be killed!"

It should be noted that the clan elders did not hate the boy for the burden he was carrying. Their purpose was more sinister - most of them were power hungry, taking their position for granted. They resented that an attempt a decade ago by the Hyūga clan to adaopt Naruto and place him in the branch house failed. Thus missing a golden opportunity to gain control of the junjuriki and become an unrivaled power in Konoha. So if they couldn't have him...

Sasuke looked wide-eyed at the foaming elders, wondering why they hated the dobe so much. He was about to ask but was stopped by a pointed look by his brother. The Uchiha clan leader asked with fake innocence:

"Demon brat? I'm afraid I do not know what you are talking about. Care to elaborate?"

One of the elders started saying:

"He is the Kyu-"

"Silence Fool!" - Hiashi roared. "You won't dishonor our clan by breaking the Hokage's law!"

The crowd went silent at that outburst. The Hyūga clan leader made a small bow to Ichigo:

"My apologies, Uchiha-san. Their behavior was out of line. As to your question we can not answer. The Hokage made the knowledge an S - rank village secret, with the appropriate penalties."

Ichigo returned the bow, saying:

"Apology accepted. I won't hold against you something you have no control over."

Hiashi nodded, pondering Ichigo's answer. It had so many meanings.

Ichigo continued as nothing had happened:

"I won't be naming anyone, but my brief observations on the this year's senior students, shows that they are not ready for the reality of shinobi's life. Something that their future jonin-senseis will have their hands full with. At least in the time left before the exams, the kids should be able to catch up enough to pass."

Hiashi winced. The evident belief by a clan head, which was able to best Kakashi, no less that this year's graduating class may not be ready for even the exams, much less for being genin's, was a kind of wake up call. After all, Hinata was one of these kids. He cursed himself for not paying closer attention at his daughter aside from her atrocious gentle fist performance.

"What are some of the bigger problems you noticed, Uchiha-san?" asked one of the elders, whose granddaughter was in the academy.

"Besides outright sabotaging the training in various disciplines, taijutsu being the most glaring mess I saw, some of the students were lead to grossly overestimate their abilities." Sasuke cringed at that. The last few days of training with his brother had been a rude awakening.

"It won't be a stretch to think that they have also helped make other students suffer of inferiority complex." - Ichigo added, glancing at Hinata. Observing her behavior this evening and adding the little he had learning from his brother when they were talking about how the days at school went, added up to that. It was a logical conclusion and mostly correct. Its just that the arrested academy teachers were not the ones to blame. The perpetrator was his host - Hiashi, thanks to the cold and sometimes outright cruel way he acted towards Hinata.

The dinner ended on that somber note, leaving some food for thought to the Hyūga clan leader.

* * *

**Konoha**

The next day saw some shuffling of the remaining academy teachers, with the notable promotion of two of the remaining educators - Iruka and Mizuki, who were now responsible for preparing the graduating classes for the exams.

Ichigo made two clones leaving them to continue reading through the clan archives, and went out craving something sweet. He made his way to a dango shop, wondering if the ones made in Konoha were different from the ones he had eaten in Japan. He was a bit absent-minded, wondering what should be the next step in the children training, beside the inevitable tree climbing, and did not notice in time Kurenai who was exiting the shop. They bumped into each other, the collision sending a flare of pain in the kunochi's wounded leg. Kurenai stumbled, dropping the pack of dango, she was holding. Startled, Ichigo grabbed the woman, preventing her fall. She winced when the sweets fell to the ground, tumbling out of their wrapping. Ichigo felt a chill run down his spine. He heard a gasp and sensed a spike of killer intent. The Uchiha turned around to see a kunochi with purple hair and tan trench coat. However his eyes were glued at the rest of her clothing. She had criminally short, orange skirt and a fish net which was barely covering her ample bosom. His sight roamed over the kunochi , stopping at her breasts, barely noticing the snake fang shaped pendant nested between the heavenly globes. He wondered how they will feel to the touch.

"_Finally! You noticed a woman! I'm so proud of ya! And what a body!"_ - a new voice cheered in the Uhcihas head.

"My dango!" an angry hiss prompted Ichigo to look the kunochi in the face. It was beautiful. With oval, almost heart shaped contours and soft features. Her brown, pupiless eyes were blazing with fury.

Kurenai sweatdropped and whispered to Ichigo:

"You should run now. Messing with Anko's dango is a big No-no."

The words of the wounded kunochi were proved to be true when the newly named Anko, launched a kunai at Ichigo's face. He moved his head to the side, the weapon missing by a hair. The pissed off kunochi made a punching technique and grinned wickedly:

"Sen'eijashu! (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands) " two green vipers shot from the sleeve of her extended right hand, streaking at Ichigo. The shinobi froze for a moment gawking. 'Snakes! Of course it had to be snakes!' He thought shuddering. He grabbed Kurenai and used Kawarimi no Jutsu, to get them out of the way.

"Praise the log." - He muttered, already developing a healthy respect for the wood, life saving items.

He gently released the hurt woman and moved like a blur, grabbing Anko.

"Let's take this somewhere with no bystanders." he said, using body flicker to move them away.

They appeared on a nearby training ground, landing in a compromising position thanks to the struggling kunochi. Ichigo was on his back, straddled by Anko, his left hand holding a soft, yet firm globe. It took him a second to comprehend where his arm had wandered. Ichigo's eyes glazed, his face becoming crimson. He moved his appendage away as if he had touched a red-hot coal, but it was far too late. He had to sacrifice another log to escape a bunch of newly summoned snakes. His evasion was followed by an indignant retort:

"Stay still!"

"The hell I will!" he shouted, disappearing in the nearby forest.

Anko smirked, producing a kunai and liking its blade. She said, her blood tingling in anticipation:

"I so love a wild hunt!"

She followed Ichigo, who was running for dear life. His sense for self preservation was telling him that this kunochi was much worse than pissed off Tatsuki.

Ichigo jumped on another tree branch, ducking at the sound of kunai heading at him. He evaded the pointy objects, jumping away from another pair of snakes who pounced at his earlier position. Running away wasn't working. At this rate he'll just be tired when she caught up to him. The Uchiha made his way to a small meadow and activated hid dojutsu. Seconds later he had to evade half a dozen kunai. It was simple matter, as far as he was concerned, the world had slowed down thanks to the enhanced perception granted by the sharingan. It was easy to sidestep the weapons and snatch one from the air. Ichigo had to remind himself that he was a shinobi and going out unarmed was a great way to get killed.

The sassy kunochi, stalked out of the brushes, with the grace of accomplished predator. His eyes followed her every move, the slowed down perception of time, making it look like she was putting out a sensuous display. Anko pointed her arms at her prey, six snakes launching at him. The man stood at the center of the meadow, kunai on the ready. While she was mildly impressed at his earlier display, what he did next floored her. Anko's snakes turned in mid-air, flying back at her. The tails of the summons, which were still in her sleeves, curled around her arms like a vise, preventing her from defending herself. Before she could react, her body was bound tight by living ropes. One of the vipers came face to face with its mistress and hissed at her. Anko could see the eyes of the snake - they were red, in the form of the sharingan. The reptile's head waved with amusement and it gently bumped her forehead with its scaly nose. 'That insufferable Uchiha!' Anko fumed.

"Now, that's a good girl." Ichigo snarked and left in a swirl of leaves.

Few minutes later the snake's eyes lost the sharingan forms and the reptiles released their mistress, hissing in indignation at her curses. It wasn't their fault!

Anko looked at one of her familiars and pouted childishly:

"Don't hiss at me!"

* * *

**Hokage tower, the evening of the same day**

Ichigo was summoned by his boss. The old man was sitting on comfortable looking armchair , puffing from his pipe. His face hidden by a green book with title: "Icha - Icha : Paradise". Sarutobli was giggling perversely, while his clones were handling the paperwork and were giving angry glances at the original. Ichigo went behind Hiruzen and looked over the reading man's shoulder. Ah. The old man was reading smut. It was good stuff to boot.

"Ichigo-kun!" - Sarutobi exclaimed seeing the red faced jonin. The Hokage chuckled at the look in the face of the young man.

"It's a good book from Jiraya-kun. You should try some of his works."

Ichigo nodded. The little he had glimpsed was interesting...

* * *

**Interlude**

Far away from Konoha, a self styled "Super! pervert", was in a seedy bar, sipping a piss - poor beer. Jiraya of the Sanin was waiting for one of his contacts, hoping that the woman had some information about the whereabouts of his treacherous teammate. Suddenly the eyes of the white haired man were lit up by flames of joy. He exclaimed, scaring the patrons of the not so fine establishment:

"I feel a disturbance in the Perverseness! I've won a new disciple!" the Sanin giggled.

* * *

**Back in Konoha**

The Hokage, closed his book and said:

"I have a mission for you. Nakimyra Reiji has been located. He is one of the biggest drug runners in the country and a embarrassment for the Daymo, being a second cousin. Nakimyra needs to be removed together with his cronies. It is an assassination mission. As this is your first assignment as a Konoha jonin, I'll be sending you with a back up. She should be here any moment. "

"Duly noted. By the way can you recommend some books? " Ichigo asked the Hokage.

The old man smiled. Another convert for the goodness that were Juraya's books!

"Everything written by Jiraya. My student is great!" Hiruzen said with pride.

The promised back up arrived, forcing the office doors open a bit too roughly. Anko strides in the office with a bounce to her steps. Hiruzen stiffened a groan. She was again high on sugar. Anko who was more hyperactive than usual was baaad news for someone.

"Ichigo-kun, meet Miratashi Anko."

The Uchiha grinned and greeted her:

"Hello, crazy snake girl!"

Her answer was another kunai thrown at his face. This time he was not fast enough, and the bladed weapon left a thin bloody line on his left cheek.

"Anko!" the Hokage was not in the mood for her antics, his commanding voice stopping the kunochi before she could throw another weapon.

She pouted cutely, her eyes trailing Ichigo's bloody cheek.

"You two have a mission to do. If you manage not to kill each other..." - the old man trailed off.

Anko somehow managed to sneak up behind Ichigo. She was hugging him from behind, her tongue licking his blood.

To say that Ichigo was freaking on the inside would be a gross underestimation. 'She's a bloody vampire too.' the Uchiha thought, while with a supreme effort of will, he was keeping a calm outward appearance.

"Tasty blood..." - Anko crooned in his ear, disturbing him ever more.

"Ahem. You two can cuddle later." Sarutobi intervened.

Ichigo managed to extract himself from the clingy kunochi and said with conviction:

"Yes! Places to be, people to kill! Have to go now!" The clan head disappeared, trying to break the speed of light.

An hour later, after leaving a clone with assignments for Sasuke and Naruto, Ichigo was at the village main gate, waiting for Anko. He was clad in old fashioned ninja armor, similar to what his ancestor Madara had used. It was painted with a forest centered digital pattern, something that took hours to bunch of his clones. With the katana on his waist, the Uchiha looked more like a samurai than a shinobi.

He was hugged from behind, soft breasts pressing at his back.

"Miss me?" Anko whispered in his ear, her voice sending shivers down his spine. Not unpleasant one's this time.

"Yeah I'm lost without you." he answered huskily.

Literally Anko was one of the interrogators who had gotten the info of the target and was one of the few knowing where to find Reiji. Talk about paranoid shinobi...

"Let's go! I want to have some fun!" she released him and moved out at ninja speed.

Ichigo shook his head at the sudden change of attitude and followed her.

They were travelling for some time, the run at ninja speed through the canopies of the trees having a calming effect on the Uchiha. Ichigo was moving few paces behind the kunochi, leaving her to lead the way. That allowed him to notice how she turned her head to him a few times and was about to say something, but thought better of it and continued forward silently. He frowned. She did not strike him as an indecisive woman. Ichigo hastened his speed, coming shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Anko spill. What is bothering you?"

She huffed, biting her lower lip.

"Thank you." Anko whispered.

"Um, you're welcome?" - was Ichigo's confused reply.

Seeing his confusion the kunochi extrapolated:

"Kurenai. You saved my friend."

"Ah. No problem. Anyone in my position would have done it." Ichigo stammered.

'Not Orochimaru .' Anko thought, anger flaring in her eyes. You could say that Kurenai was her only true friend left in the village, the rest, not that there were many to begin with, had grown distant, sometimes outright hating her. They saw in her a stark reminder of her sensei, and the horrors he had wrought before being found out.

"Why the long face?" Ichigo asked, seeing the change in her expression.

"Just a bad memory." she brushed off his concern.

The dimension traveler decided not to push her, changing the topic.

"You are an interesting woman. Granted, I've been in Konoha for about a week, but would have expected to hear about you before our accident this morning. Why's that?" it was a good question.

Ichigo had met or heard about most of the jonin and tokubetsu jōnin in Konoha. While the village had about 16,000 ninjas of all ranks, the active jonin were about one percent of that number. And Anko was quite a character, bound to make people notice and mention her.

She muttered something unintelligible under her nose, thinking 'Here we go again. Once he know about Orochimaru, he'll hate me like the rest'.

"What was that? Can't be some deep dark secret can it?" Ichigo joked, hitting the bulls eye.

"I was Orochimaru's apprentice." she mumbled, almost too fast to hear, dreading Ichigo's reaction.

"So?" he deadpanned.

Anko was floored by the unexpected answer, stumbling in surprise. She barely avoided smashing into an inconveniently placed tree.

"So!?" she shouted. "You are supposed to hate me now!" Anko deflated, confused.

Ichigo grumbled in iritation. 'Do I have to play councilor for everyone in this god forsaken village?!' he thought looking at the heavens for answer. 'I should start charging for this stuff..'

"You don't look like the snake sannin to me. You are not him in disguise, right?" he jested, earning a glare.

"Anko, you are not that bastard, and I have no intention of holding his crimes against you. You were a kid at the time, another of his victims, not someone who should pay for his sins." Ichigo added in a serious voice.

The kunochi looked at Ichigo, giving him small smile. They continued their journey, the Uchiha asking Anko various questions, curious about her. Obviously, she did not get many opportunities to chat, because before they reached their target, he had learned a lot about the woman. She had an unusual hobby, one he would never have guessed - tea ceremonies. Anko found that a relaxing activity, helping her to cope with all the hatred she had to deal with. There was a looong explanation about the different types of dango and why it was the food of Kami-sama himself, followed by enough harmless information about Kurenai, that Ichigo had the feeling he had grown up with the said kunochi. He also learned more than he ever wanted to know about poisons. It was a very useful knowledge, but the woman's fascination with the deadly substances was unhealthy.

* * *

**Nakimyra Reiji's base of operations, midnight**

The target had a pretty nice setup, the drug dealing bastard. For a clueless civilian, that is. The camp was situated in a large clearing, about a mile in diameter. While there were a lot of guards on a perimeter patrol, they were spread out, barely seeing each other in the darkness. The only well lit places were the gate in the low wall and around the four watchtowers in the angles of the square shaped palisade. A bunch of competent samurai could pick off most of the awake defenders without raising alarm, not to mention two elite shinobi. Ichigo scowled in derision, affronted by the sad excuse of guards. The most straight forward course of action would be to burn down the place with one of his more powerful jutsu and mop up the survivors, but the Konoha ninja had to know if their primary target was home. The shinobi decided on a plan of action and melted into the night. Ichigo was going to sneak in and deal with Reiji or find a clue to his location. Meanwhile, Anko would deal with the perimeter guards, replacing them with henged bushins.

Most of the people in the camp were asleep, with the exception of some men who were busy drinking and entertaining themselves with whores brought from the nearby town of Verdana. Ichigo was moving like ghost, and had little effort in sneaking in. The only dangerous moment was when a half asleep bandit stumbled from his tent, while the Uchiha was about to pass near it. The shinobi froze, becoming a part of the night shadows. The cutthroat came near his position and unfastened his trousers, relieving himself in the dark spot where Ichigo had hidden. The ninja had to restrain himself from killing the man outright. The bastard had just pissed all over his feet! Thank god for watertight boots. When the man returned to his tent, Ichigo used a water jutsu to clean up his boots, cursing silently. He wondered if the shinobi with formal education were taught to deal with such stuff.

Ichigo made his way to the centre of the camp with no more troubles. Here was one of the few permanent building the bandits had erected a small single floor house. The substitute shinigami checked for traps and alarms. Finding a wire leading to some unknown mechanism, he traced it using his sharingan. It was an alarm. Moving swiftly, he picked the lock of the door and disabled the alarm before it could go off. Ichigo found no more surprises and made his way to the bedroom, where his target was sleeping, with two naked women spooned all over him. That was Reiji, all right. The lucky bastard. Ichigo spent a second envying the bandit, eyes roaming on the sleeping prostitutes. Say what you wish about them, but those women had great bodies. Well, Nakimyra's luck just ran out. Ichigo drew a kunai and slit the man's throat, incapacitating his female companions with chops to the neck before they could comprehend that their client was dead. Ichigo preferred not to kill more of the followers of the oldest profession than he had to, so simply burning down the camp was out. He spend a minute pondering his options, while checking the room for something useful. A lot of documents which should be of interest for the Intel weenies and a floor safe full with at least couple of millions Ryo. Yup, no burning unless it was to save himself or Kurenai. He decided to use a modified version of the trick he unveiled against Kakashi. Good thing that Ichigo had packed a storage scroll with modified explosive notes, the ones which created a bit smaller explosion but with no notable incendiary effect. After all if he wanted to burn down something , he had it covered with his ninjutsu. Ichigo created a quartet of clones whose task was to mine the camp with ready to blow up explosive tags and inform Anko of the change in plan. As this was happening he and another clone busied themselves with sealing all the money and documents.

Few minutes later, Ichigo got the head up from one of his shadow clones, which was dispelled by irate Anko. He stopped packing and made his way to the roof, with half the fortune sealed away. Once there he made a hand seal, channeling chakra into it. The bandit lair was lit up by dozens of explosions. The sights of tent blown up, with pieces of men and women flying in the air was forever etched in his mind. He knew that this was not the last blood bath he'll be responsible for if he lived long enough. More than half of the bandit horde, discounting the sentries slaughtered by Anko, ceased existing in a second. It was a blow which would have shattered most coherent fighting forces. And those who suffered it were little more than common rabble. Pandemonium insured when the agonized screams of the wounded, mixed with terrified cries from the untouched bandits, who were running out of their tents in panic. Most of them even forgot to grab their weapons before running into the night. Ichigo activated a well crafted genjutsu, hundreds of ravens descending over the devastated camp. He threw few kunai, taking out two nearby cutthroats and used Kawarimi no Jutsu to change position with one of his minions, appearing in the middle of five bandits, who were trying to take command of the situation. Ichigo was acting before his victims knew he was there, the first one dying with a kunai stuck in the back of his skull. A palm strike to the throat dispatched second, the man falling down, clawing at his crushed trachea. Then, while the rest were turning around, the Uchiha drew his katana, slashing open from thigh to shoulder a third. A powerful, horizontal two handed strike, delivered from left to right, decapitated the last two, before they were able to face their executioner. Before the corpses could hit the ground, Ichigo was replaced by a raven, who's kaw's were joined by the song of its brethren flying through the camp. Absolute chaos ensured, with Ichigo's lethal strikes and appearing and disappearing routine. He was joined by Anko, who had watched the carnage for few minutes, assessing the jonin's skills. They made short work of the remaining bandits. When the morning came, of the two hundred and thirty six outlaw's only two had managed to escape in the night. Months later, they could be seen telling their horror story in the land of waves.

Ichigo surveyed the slaughter he had wrought. Thankfully, the remains of the camp were sliding into darkness, most of the torches and fires extinguished during the "battle". A single tear fell from the corner of his left eye. He doubled over, retching, the enormity of his actions catching up to him. Anko put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, her face grim.

"For what's worth it, this stuff gets easier with time. This is the life of a shinobi - full of blood and tears. It's not as glamorous as you expected, is it?" she said gently.

Ichigo retrieved his canteen and washed his mouth, spitting a mouthful of water.

"I knew it will be bad, but..." he never finished his thought. His sharingan had caught the barely distinguishable shapes of shuriken flying at them. He jumped in front of Anko, who had just starting to turn at the direction of the coming attack, sensing that something was amiss. Ichigo deflected the weapons using his canteen to batter them away.

"Look, Gema! The leaf weakling regrets a little bit of slaughter!" taunted a voice from the shadows.

"They should. Our client's dead and his file plundered." a woman added from behind the Konoha shinobi.

A third voice gloated:

"That's the new Uchiha we heard about! The boss will reward us for his eyes!"

Ichigo steadied himself, ready for to do battle. Next to him the snake mistress of Konoha drew a kunai and prepared for an attack. She asked, concerned:

"Are you good enough to fight? You can be screwed over this," she waved at the carnage, "when there are no more enemies around. I won't get killed because you are too squeamish."

"I'm fine." the Uchiha said with more bravado than he felt. Anko was right; this was not the time and place to fall apart.

"Not for long." sneered one of the hidden ninjas.

Ichigo smiled sadly, giving one last glance at the bodies around him. He felt that he started to understand Itachi. The Uchiha clan leader placed his left hand on Anko's shoulder. They dissolved in a flock of ravens moment before their location was obliterated by invisible force.

"Shit! Genjutsu!" spat one of the enemy ninjas.

Ichigo was sneaking on the one who just shouted, examining his apparel. He was wearing a leather armor over gray shirt, with a cargo pants with camouflage appropriate for a city scope, not a forest. The shinobi had a head projector with a musical note on sewn on the forehead of his black Balaclava facemask. The sound nin smelled the lingering stench of piss on the Uchiha, substituting with a log and avoiding a cleaving strike by the dimension traveler's katana. Ichigo darted to the right, his eyes detecting the place of egress for the enemy. The clan leader was upon his prey in seconds, katana flashing in a horizontal slash. The masked man evaded with a backwards Salto, showing surprising agility. Ichigo followed, a diagonal strike already in motion before the enemy was firmly on his legs. The katana was blocked by a pair of crossed kunai, their wielder stumbling a step back in trying to regain his balance. Ichigo had to finish this opponent now, he could hear another ninja running towards them. So the third one had decided to attack him leaving just one for Anko to play with.

Ichigo had regained his mental balance. There was nothing like a treat of imminent death, to straighten up your priorities and get you out of a funk. The Uchiha pressed down with his katana, forcing his enemy to keep blocking with both hands. The leaf shinobi took a step forward and kicked his opponent in the kneecap with the heel of his boot, shattering it. The man screamed, his crippled leg unable to support his weight. With a sickening crunch, the joint gave up, bringing down the sound nin. Ichigo silenced him with an economic lunge, impaling the man's heart. It wasn't a moment too soon. As Ichigo was recovering his blade, his sharingan making possible for him to see a disturbance in the air coming straight at him. Ichigo replaced himself with a log, which was turned into toothpicks in the next instant. The strike also caught up the body of the Uchiha's latest victim, the torso of the corpse imploding. 'Impressive.' noted Ichigo. He body flickered behind the ninja who just attacked him. The Uchiha showed up to see a kunochi, who was wearing a body-hugging suit, looking like something a special forces soldier from his dimension would use. Her head was encased in a helmet with integrated gas mask, giving her insect like appearance. The Aburames would approve.

Ichigo stabbed the kunochi in the back. Her body dissolved in the air with deafening screech. The Uchiha, instinctively grabbed his bleeding ears, substituting himself with another log. It was not a moment too soon, a sound wave striking his the place he was just occupying. The jutsu blew away anything not nailed to the ground in four meter diameter. The Konoha jonin groaned, his head echoing with the fucking sound. He had to jump right to avoid another wave.

* * *

**At the same time with Anko**

The duo of Konoha nin darted in different directions, covered by Ichigo's genjutsu. The world behind them exploded in a rain of kunai with explosive tags and jutsus. The snake mistress became one with the night's shadows, a deadly predator stalking the enemy shinobi. The ninja with sound head protector , met her head on, dual tantos screaming for the leaf kunochi blood. She answered with kunai appearing in each hand, weapons singing in the night. Anko's enemy had a strange armor, which flowed over his body like a carapace. That impression reinforced by its organinc appearance. The kunochi disengaged, jumping back and threw her kunais at the enemy ninja. The man deflected one of the weapons and tilted his gas mask covered head to the side, blade glancing from the hard plastic of his mask.

They clashed again, Miratashi drawing new kunai from the depths of her trench coat. Their weapons met in a halo of sparks, an exchange of fast, precise strikes testing the reflexes of the combatants. Anko was the first one to breach the enemy's defense, kunai parrying a short sword strike and in a blink of an eye striking at the shinobi heart. The weapon failed to penetrate the armor, its tip snapping at the impact, but it struck with enough force to push back the man. The snake mistress growled in iritation, leaving the blunted kunai to fall to the ground and made a punching motion at her opponent.

"Sen'eijashu! ( Hidden Shadow Snake Hands )"! She hissed, two snakes shooting from her sleeve.

The sound ninja managed to stab one of the reptiles. His other sword was not moving fast enough to make the intercept. The surviving viper bit the shinobi's left shoulder. The reptile's muscles rippled under its scales and it threw the man into still intact tent. He struck hard enough to snap the poles keeping it upright, his momentum carrying him into the tent material, cocooning the man into the heavy fabric. He was followed by a kunai with hissing explosive tag. The resulting detonation scattered the remains of the tent to the elements, the bright light it produced allowing Anko to see her opponent unharmed. He had saved himself with Kawarimi no Jutsu. His fingers were busy making hand seals.

"Raiton: Raikyu! (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball) " the man screamed, balls of cracking lighting emerged in the palms of his arms.

The sound nin charged Anko, throwing the spheres of electricity at her. She dodged the first and jumped in the air, twisting her frame over the second. In the same fluid motion, she drew pair of kunais and the moment she was secure on the ground the weapons left her hands, flying at the head of her enemy. He was too close to dodge both projectiles. His armored fist struck one, deflecting it. The other one cut his cheekbone deep enough to scrape the bone. The shinobi grunted in pain, and jumped at Anko, tackling her to the ground. He was hoping that his armor will be a decisive advantage in taijutsu combat. He was not so lucky. The kunochi grinned at him. Half a dozen snakes erupted from her trench coat, one grabbing each of his appendages. His eyes met Anko's bloodthirsty gaze and he had a moment to be terrified before the last two vipers clamped their poison fangs in his head, pumping him in poison. He gave one loud agonized screech. The sound nin choked with foaming mouth and died with a backbreaking convulsions.

* * *

Ichigo's sharingan blazed in the night, reflected by the visors on the sound kunochi helmet. She was shooting sound waves from devices in the palms of her arms, blowing everything in her path. Ichigo smirked, noticing a pattern in her attacks. Every six blasts, she had to pause for few seconds to catch her breath. The Uchiha prepared himself for the next onslaught.

A blast from her right hand passed through the place where Ichigo just was.

'One.' he mentally counted. He made a Snake seal starting to knead chakra into his body.

A stream of sound from the left palm shot at the wildly moving jonin, missing him by centimeters. The attack hit one of the towers on the perimeter of the camp, drilling through its foundations. The wooden construct shuddered, the young trees from which it was made snaring like kindling, its frame toppling slowly.

'Two' - Ram.

A pair of attacks followed, tweaked to be less powerful but with wider range. A twenty meter semicircle was blown away with Ichigo evading by replacing himself.

"Thank you log!" - he whispered.

'Three.' Monkey. 'Four' Boar.

The kunochi moved in close a palm strike releasing another attack. It struck the Konoha shinobi dead centre to no effect, his body falling apart into a flock of ravens.

'Five. Horse.

She cursed looking around for him. The sound ninja found him, standing on a tent pole, fifty meters away. She blasted the offending piece of wood, Ichigo jumping over her attack.

"Six." he said and made the Tiger seal.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) " Ichigo said, using for first time in combat his clan's signature jutsu. The air leaving his lips as he pronounced the technique name, turned into fire as he was expelling the chakra kneaded in his body. The flames formed a massive orb of roaring flames, ten meters in diameter. The roaring sphere plunged at the kunochi, who tried to Kawarimi away. However she was unable to do so. Her attacks had a drawback compensating for their devastating offensive power and low chakra consumption. The backslash of her sound attacks was disrupting her chakra flow, requiring a brief respite while it was restored. That required her to shut down her chakra similar to what one does to counter genjutsu, but making her unable to use any jutsu for few precious seconds. She had decided that this drawback was worth it. Now that decision cost her everything. She was two seconds too late with the substitution jutsu. By the time she would have been able to use it, the sound kunochi was in the centre of fiery sea. The only thing that can be found from her was a puddle of melted metal fused in the centre of grassed circle. And that was days later, when the inferno finally was extinguished by a thunderstorm.

Shortly after his pyrotechnic display, Ichigo met with Anko, who had sealed the body of her victim. She had the suspicion that the intelligence people would love to examine the sound shinobi. Miratashi whistled at the raging firestorm.

"Overkill much?" she joked.

Ichigo looked at her pointing at his ears, shouting:

"Can't hear you. That bitch fucked up my ears. There should be close to million left in the safe. Let's bag it and go back. I need a god damned doctor." The Uchiha grumbled. Few minutes later they were on their way to Konoha.

* * *

**Konoha**

The Uchiha clan leader was lucky. No permanent damage to his hearing, just ringing ears for a week after he was treated by the doctors. The debriefing with the Hokage was entertaining for everyone but Ichigo, who was temporally deaf at that time. As expected these new shinobi and their strange armor made quite an impact, leading to fires being lit up under the asses of the folks in the intelligence department. Unfortunately there was no new information to be uncovered in the near future. The Uchiha assets audit was finished, showing that fifteen civilian councilmen had their paws in the cookie jar. Six of them had the foresight to run, the rest expecting their connections to protect them. That was not to be. They all were arrested and suffered various accidents before Ibiki and his merry band of maniacs can get their hands on them. Sarutobi and Ichigo believed that this was Danzo's work but they could not move against him without a proof. After recovering Ichigo had to go on a new missions with only a couple of days rest in between. At least the assignments went without major problems, enchanting his reputation. He soon was classed as a high A rank jonin in various bingo books. That increased the number of clients Konoha got and made Ichigo's life in the field more difficult.

Meanwhile his "copious" spare time was divided between teaching Sasuke and Naruto, training himself and few dates with Anko, who now counted him as one of her precious friends. One afternoon while they were chatting in her favorite dango shop, Ichigo mentioned that he was wondering how to enhance the kid's training regimen.

Anko finished siphoning dango from the stick in her arm and said:

"The old fashioned way. Use them as target practice."

Ichigo touched the thin scar on his cheek, given to him by Anko on the day they first met. His eyes gleamed with mischief.

"That's a splendid idea! And I know how to make it even better!" - he exclaimed chuckling evilly.

"Umh." the kunochi mumbled, her mouth full with dango.

"You will be the one using them as targets!" - the Uchiha grinned.

She choked on her favorite food, dropping the stick with dango. After recovering she growled at him:

"You owe me for that! And why should I help a couple of snotty brats?"

"Because of my beautiful black eyes?" glare. Not that his eyes were not really nice or something, but that was not good enough for her to deal with children. Nope!

"And all the dango you can eat while you help training them." he hastily added.

Ichigo was rewarded with a squeal of joy, that put even his most rabbit fan-girls to shame and an Anko, who threw herself at him embracing him. Ichigo was grinning foolishly, his head pressed in the valley between her breasts. He wondered why he did not think of that earlier, ignoring the kunochi's chanting:

"Free dango!"

* * *

At the same time, in the academy Sasuke and Naruto jumped out of their desks, looking at each other, startling Iruka. They had a very bad feeling about something.

"What's up with you two?" the teacher asked.

Sasuke gulped and answered:

"I have the feeling that nii-san is up to something..." he trailed off causing his class mates to erupt in laughter. The lucky bastards didn't have to deal with Ichigos training! The damn sadist had even got them weights. Weights! Did he have any idea how much harder was to run from the damn fan-girls now?!

* * *

The next morning the prospective genin found out that they were right. The way Ichigo was chuckling last night when they asked him if there was something they needed to know was a dead giveaway but the reality was much worse than they could have ever imagined.

Naruto and Sasuke were on the ground panting after finishing the morning marathon. Their sadistic sensei had increased their weights before the run, even worse, Ichigo was chipper as if he had not ran them in the ground, and was leaning on a nearby three, his face buried in an orange book. While his unlucky apprentices were busy glaring at him, Ichigo was reading about the exploits of one Minato Kaze, and was taking mental notes. He wondered if he'll have the opportunity to try some of the positions with Anko, the thought startling him. He didn't think of her that way, did he?

Said Kunochi's hand suddenly sneaked around his neck embracing him. She whispered in his ear:

"Ichigo-kun, I never thought you for a pervert!"

"Blame the Old man! He suggested the book!" he stammered.

She looked at the open page and muttered:

"That's uncomfortable. It's killer on the back."

Ichigo's eyes followed her gaze and he raised an eyebrow.

"Uncomfortable, you say? That should be physically impossible. It's hot but there's no way..." Anko interrupted his babbling by saying:

"Been there, done that. Want a demonstration?" she whispered huskily in his ear, making his heart pound in his chest.

"Hey, ero-sensei! Stop fooling around with your girlfriend and show us something new! You promised us new training!" the hyper active blonde interrupted the shinobi.

"Dobe!" Sasuke face-palmed. The sense of foreboding he was feeling since yesterday skyrocketed.

A kunai whistled through the air, grazing Naruto's cheek. His eyes widened comically and he jumped in the air.

"Oi! Watch where you are throwing those things! You can hit someone!" Naruto was digging himself a deeper hole.

Anko ignored the blonde's antics for the moment, looking at the man in her embrace.

"A girlfriend eh?" she said quietly.

"I like the sound of that." Ichigo whispered in answer, looking her in the eyes.

His first kiss occurred under the branches of a sakura tree. He had his back pressed to the trunk of the plant, with Anko's form spooned over him. He was lost in her eyes, the brush of her soft lips sending electricity through his body.

Ichigo's right hand was gently rubbing Anko's back, sending waves of pleasure all over her. She moaned throaty and pressed her lips to his, her tongue searching for its counterpart. Ichigo answered in kind, their tongues exploring and dueling, the new sensations blowing the Uchiha's mind. They were lost in a whirlwind of feelings, their bodies grinding at each other. Eventually, they had to come up for air. The couple looked at each other, gasping.

"That was... Wow. Just wow..." Ichigo babbled, looking at the woman in his hands with glazed eyes.

"I'm that good, eh?" Anko laughed.

Ichigo's heart fluttered. The sound of her laughter was the best thing he had ever heard. He was content to just hold her and loose in her eyes, the shadows in his mind left of his actions as shinobi dispelling by just looking at her smile.

Their idyllic moment was ended by a loud snicker, which brought them back to the real world. The sound was coming from Naruto who was pointing at them. Sasuke on the other hand was showing some sense of self preservation and was chuckling at his rival's antics. A thick mark appeared on Anko's forehead. Her right hand sneaked for a kunai, said weapon flying at the blonde a second later. The kid was paying attention this time, evading the projectile and stumbling back falling on his ass. In the next moment a kunai materialized between his legs, a hair breath away from his family jewels. The blonde gawked backing up with fear enhanced speed.

"You were saying, gaki?" Anko asked with a sweet tone.

Ichigo smirked and pointed at his students.

"Just remember, you asked for it. As you asked, we'll have some additional training before moving to water walking. " Ichigo smiled, waving at two nearby threes.

"What is it ero-sensei?"

Ichigo's smile grew wider for a moment, then his features became serious.

"Extreme three walking!" the Uchiha clan leader declared with a straight face.

Sasuke gulped looking at Anko who had a kunai in each hand. The hyperactive blonde cheered and asked:

"What is the extreme part?"

A ball full of paint bonked him in the forehead, coloring his face blue.

"Oi! That hurt!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That?! Don't worry gaki, by the next week you'll graduate to solid rubber balls and the one after that, the real fun begins!" Anko declared all too cheerfully.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke whined.

Ichigo was undeterred. It was necessary survival training. Besides he had another motive too. Two weeks until live weapons training. Then he'll have the perfect opportunity. The duck nest in his brother hair had to go.

By the end of the day, the kids were painted in the all colors of the rainbow and covered with painful bruises. Their aching bodies were refusing to move and Ichigo and Anko had to carry them to the bathrooms (by using clones, of course). The shinobi deposited them in hot bathtubs and left them for rest and clean up. The paint was not of a kind easy to clean up. The couple then found themselves on a sofa snuggling. Their kissing session was interrupted by Kurenai, who dragged her old friend on girl business. Ichigo wisely did not want to know.

The next weeks were some of the best in his life. The missions he went to were without hair-raising adventures, the training of the kids was progressing great, Sasuke and Naruto were so far surviving the live weapons fire, with the only downside the damned infernal luck of that duck nest, it was still whole despite Ichigo and Anko's best efforts. He was starting to believe that his little brother was cursed! As far as he and Anko were concerned, the things were proceeding smoothly, with the couple spending most of their free time together. At that time, the as far as he knew, his only problem was that his bloody custom katana was not ready. Massani had been recalled to active duty to help with the research of the armor retrieved by Anko and had not enough time to finish the job. Little did he knew, that this was the calm before a storm, which before was over would change the Elemental nations forever. The first sign of the things to come would manifest just after the graduation of this year's classes in the academy...

**AN : Please review! It should be noted that in my story Mizuki will play the role of somewhat competent spy, not letting his hatred of Naruto show until he's ready to cut his loses and leave Konoha for good. That's the reason he is not being entertained by Ibiki and his minions.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto! They belong to their respective owners.**

**The story was proofread by Zanthtacone! My thanks for the great work!**

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**Reviews:**

**horned07 :** I'm not sure if I'll actually go with the CRA and besides I think I'll be keeping Kurenai with Asuma. Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

**Friaku: **Thank you for the kind words. While there will be a bit of bashing in the next couple of chapters, the persons in question will be redeamed. It will be mainly about the transformation of couple of fan girls in kunochi. One of the themes in the story is redemption - of Konoha and of the Uchiha clan and Itachi thanks to Ichigo's actions.

**Strife666: **Thank you!

**OneSilverWing9 : **I'll be trying to write the story without too much cliches, but whether it will happen or not time will tell. Ichigo in my story is not the same clueless teen :D As far as the speed of Ichigo and Anko relationship - it was about a month between their first meeting and becoming lovers. I've seen it happen much faster in real life.

**Phantom Dark-Knight: **You are welcome!

**Ryujin Zangetsu 17 : **The various armors and especially the chakra variants will be making more apearancess in the story. On of the plot lines is centered on them.

**Chaos-Guard: **I am. As of the time of the posting of this chapter the next one is about 2/3 done!

**DragonNOOB: **They just fit as I write the story.

**Sinclair: **Here is the next update. I'm not sure if I'll be adding lemons to the story. If I do so I might post the chapters with them separately as uncensored variants.

**To my two guest reviewers :** Thank you for the kind words.

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'**Bankai!****'**** - thought**

"**Bankai!****'****' - speech**

_"**Bankai!****"**_** - Zanpakuto/demon speech**

* * *

**Hokage tower, Konoha**

For the first time Sarutobi's desk was cleared from paperwork. And it wasn't thanks to the clones. Soon after the audit of the Uchiha's assets and the arrests that followed, the paperwork which came to Hiruzen was cut by a third - to a manageable load. Something that made Sarutobi a very happy man. This had the unintended side effect of making the lives of the shinobi under his command a bit easier. After all when your boss is cranky, he usually manages to make you feel his ire even if that was not his intention. Making the Hokage a bit easier to deal with had won some major kudos to the one responsible - a Uchiha, who was about to cash in on the good will and reputation he had earned since arriving in Konoha. Ichigo wanted to be the jonin-sensei of his brother and possible Naruto. The dimension traveler had found the classified files of the military police and between their pages was confirmation of his suspicions about the blonde. Considering the fuzz-ball that was sealed in him, Ichigo was not sure that most jonin will train him properly. Granted, in the short time he knew them; they didn't strike him as people who intentionally would jeopardize the kid by fucking up his training. However, practically all high ranking shinobi on active duty nowadays had lost someone, be it family or friends to the fox. In the end his fellow ninjas were only human and he suspected that if someone else get the kid, they may ignore his needs.

Talking about Naruto, since it became known that Ichigo was training him, the attitudes toward the Uzumaki had dramatically improved. While part of the reason was that a clan leader was teaching him, the villagers favorite Uchiha no less, the main reason was more mundane. The villagers, seeing someone treating Naruto as a human being and not the demon fox (what a novel concept!) slowly began changing their attitudes. After all, one of the main reasons for their actions towards the kid were as bad as they were was "Because everyone hates him, duh! So it must be true that he's a demon! We must deal with it NOW". Talk about a crowd mentality. Well, to be fair, now that Naruto was too busy to prank everyone in sight, most of the villagers were looking like that they may even accept him one day. Even more importantly, Sasuke was making some pretty good progress at becoming a somewhat normal kid. Not being left alone was working a miracle on the younger Uchiha. Before going to his last mission, Ichigo even heard that his little brother had made friends with Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji. With a bit of trouble added by Tsume's kid who was apparently irritated that all the girls were swooning after Sasuke. That situation had been defused, when the unlucky Inuzuka brat had happened to be at the wrong time at the wrong place. To be more precise - right between Sasuke and his scheduled mob of fan-girls. Ichigo's brother had slipped away, but not before whispering to Kiba that he can have all those girls. The result was a trampled Inuzuka boy, who was now sympathetic to Sasuke's cause. Everything was going too good, even Anko mellowing a bit. She was not trying to cut up anyone outside of missions and training, ( if you discount that dumb drunk chunin the previous week, who after failing to accept a no for answer was in the hospital) . So Ichigo was waiting for the other shoe to drop. However, before the next cluster-fuck was on the horizon, the Uchiha clan leader had a meeting with the Hokage.

This was the week before the academy exams and Sarutobi had gathered all the prospective jonin-senseis. There were twenty shinobi standing in front of Sarutobi's desc. Hiruzen was looking through the files of this year's upper classmen, awaiting to hear what his ninjas thought. After the academy was cleaned up, and the kids were made aware what exactly they could expect as shinobi, a lot of children had decided not to pursue such profession, cutting the prospective genin by half. Once you consider that a lot of the rest won't make the cut, much less pass the test put by the jounin-sensei's, Hiruzen would be happy to get ten new teams from this year's crop. (It should be noted that thanks of the mess in the academy many more students were deemed not ready for graduation this year).

"Let's see who you want for students. Arashi Kenji, you go first." the Hokage opened the meeting, addressing a middle aged jonin with scar covered face.

"The genin I'll want on my team are..." the man started speaking.

Eventually the turn for Ichigo's main competition where his brother was concerned came.

"Hatake Kakashi?" the old man asked.

"I want Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino." the cyclops said, his uncovered eye never leaving a green book.

The Hokage looked pointedly at Ichigo who answered with raised eyebrow. That was a special form of communication, which Ichigo had mastered thanks to his friend Chad. The conversation could be translated as: "You want Naruto and your brother on your team, right?" from Hiruzen and a confirmation from the Uchiha. As it was tradition, all the "friendly and mature" bargaining where the fate of the genin will be decided, would take place after everyone had stated for the record who he wants and why.

Kakashi continued : "They will form a balanced team with Naruto as close quarters specialist, Sasuke covering mid to long range offensive power and Ino in the role of interrogator and support."

Next notable jonin was Sarutobi Asuma, who had returned to the village last month, after years in service as one of the Daymo's bodyguards. He wanted the next Ino–Shika–Chō trio.

When his turn came, Ichigo decided to bite the bullet.

"I want Naruto for close to mid range, Sasuke for mid to long range and Hyūga Hinata as close quarters combat specialist and scout thanks to her dojutsu. They will make a great assault team." Ichigo declared. He naturally had a plan "B" in case he did not get Hinata.

Last was Yuhi Kurenai, who wanted Hinata, Kiba and Aburame Shino for a balanced scouting team.

What followed included a lot of bargains and persuasion arbitrated by the old man, who enjoyed the show.

"Old man, this bickering is pointless. We are shinobi, not a bunch of old women." Ichigo said.

"Could have fooled me." muttered the old man.

He continued speaking:

" Maybe it's perhaps I never was a part of the so called three man cells, but the traditional way of handling things is striking me as somewhat odd. Don't get me wrong - the idea of the genin having a permanent jonin - sensei, who handles the bulk of their training, is sound. But by that system sometimes the teams can become too specialized. I propose in addition of the tried and tested system, we rotate the teams for up to a week each month so the genin can benefit of all our diverse abilities."

Hiruzen looked at Ichigo and smiled. The idea was interesting. There were more than a few examples of over specialized teams getting in over their heads and being cut to pieces.

"Ichigo-kun, I believe that this idea has merit. We will try it and see how it goes. You'll get Sasuke and Naruto. You've done a great work so far, and I am not about to fix something that is not broken. Kurenai will teach, Shino-kun and Kiba-kun. I'll give you a choice - who do you want , Sakura-chan or Ino-chan?"

'Two out of three, not too shabby.' - Ichigo thought. Plan "B" works for the either of the girls; however there were couple of issues with Ino. First Asuma may get irritated if he did not get his trio, same for their parents, all of whom were clan heads and wanted the new incarnation of their own team. Plus he really did not want to explain to Inoichi what had happened to his precious daughter. After all his entire contingency plan consisted of unleashing Anko on the poor girl. If Ino ended up emulating Ichigo's girlfriend too close, Inoichi would kill him. 'So let's not disturb sleeping dogs and irate clan leaders.'

"Haruno Sakura." Ichigo said. "When her head gets out of the clouds, she'll have the makings of great medic and support kunochi. I'll probably let Anko instruct her into use of poisons too."

The present shinobi cringed. While they all agreed that Ichigo was good influence on Miratashi, she still was Anko. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

"As you wish." The Hokage agreed. "However the last decisions will be made after the exam Dismissed."

* * *

**Uchiha clan compound, later that day**

So far so good, despite the fact that Kakashi was left hanging without a team. However, if the gleam in the old man's eyes was anything to judge by, the copy nin was in for a some kind of surprise. Until the end of the week, Ichigo divided his time between clearing up all the detail left around the reopening of the Uchiha vineyards; Anko, the relationship with who was progressing splendidly, in his mind she was what made living in this strange new world worth it; and training the kids. Which brought him to the present time on a training ground, about to teach the blonde Kage Bunshin no jutsu.

Even after becoming decent with the water walking exercise, Naruto was unable to produce a standard clone that looked alive. Thanks to the fox, the hyperactive kid had so much chakra that the smallest amount he could use proved to be too much for that jutsu. At least Naruto had stopped (mostly) with the pranks, taking his comic relief by helping neutralize the fan-girls who were assaulting the Uchiha compound every day. They were steadily decreasing in number. On the plus side, now that the prankster king had seemingly retired, it was relatively safe for Ichigo to teach him that skill. Now the Uchiha was reasonably sure that he'll not have to explain to bunch of incensed ANBU, why their nemesis had multiplied hundredfold.

That afternoon, Naruto proved that even Ichigo was underestimating him by learning the Shadow clone jutsu in under two hours. On his first successful attempt, the blonde filled the training ground with two hundred copies of himself.

"Bloody hell." Ichigo muttered, looking at the dark sea. He was eternally grateful that Naruto was dressing sensibly now. The last thing the clan leader needed was to be struck blind by sea of orange.

Ichigo grinned at the horde and said:

"I guess you win. The moratorium on ramen is over." that had been Anko's idea, the day after she joined in training the kids. Naruto had tried to prank her in response of the "paint treatment" of the previous day. That had backfired spectacularly. The consequences were clear; now the blonde was terrified of snakes and considered Anko the scariest person on the planet. When she had decided that the runt needed healthier diet, Naruto had paled, gulped and nodded frantically. That incident had interesting results in weeks the blonde had grown up five centimeters, filled in and looked healthier than any previous time in his life.

"Lead the way to your favorite ramen shop my treat." Ichigo said clueless. He was nearly deafened by the clones cheer.

Naruto obliterated his previous speed record, constantly babbling about the goodness that is Ichiraku's ramen. Ichigo followed, shaking his head with amusement. Soon they reached their destination, a food stand owned by a jovial man in his early forties.

"Hey! Ayame! It's Naruto-kun!"

A cheerful, slender girl appeared from the back, her soft brown eyes falling on Naruto. She smiled and asked:

"Naruto-kun, where were you? We were worried that something happened to you!" she exclaimed.

"Whatever it was it was good. Look at him!" the shop owner smiled.

"Training with a crazy woman." Naruto grumbled. In the next moment he received a hard slap on the back of his head.

"Uzumaki." the warning in Ichigo's voice was clear.

"Ouch. She happens to be his girlfriend!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and pointed accusingly at Ichigo, who smiled proudly thinking about Anko.

Ichigo was slowly eating his ramen, glancing at the brown haired girl. He was sure he had never met her before, yet her face was painfully familiar.

_"Itachi knew her." _the voice in his head was solemn. The Uchiha was startled. All he could do was clamp on the spoon in his mouth, trying not to jump in the air. Again he wondered if he was going insane.

_"You are as sane as possible considering the situation. That's not the question you must ask yourself. Who are you here and now? Kurosaki Ichigo, Uchiha Ichigo? And once you know the name, you'll have to understand the man behind it."_

'Back in Karakura town or even here, some weeks ago it would have been easy. But now...' Ichigo looked to the left where he could see his image in the mirror like surface of nearby window. Black hair and onyx eyes looked back, belonging to a face which was similar, yet different from that of Kurosaki Ichigo. He clenched his fists in indecision.

_"You know, King," _the other voice in his head said, _"you are like you used to be before your mother died. A happy, cheerful kid who likes to joke."_

Ichigo froze at that. Yeah, that he was. Like playing a role without knowing how to get out of character.

_"A gift, from Itachi and me."_ the voice added, a distorted echo of Ichigo's own. _"A mask, as all shinobi wear. And a glimpse of a better time. Enjoy the mask while it lasts or become one with it. For tomorrow you'll never be the same again."_

Ichigo shook his head as if exiting a trance and wondered what that was about. They finished eating in silence.

"That's all for today. Tomorrow are your exams so just a bit of light training to get the blood pumping and you and Sasuke will be going to ace them. Go get some rest." Ichigo said and waved Naruto goodbye. He knew that this night sleep won't come for a long time.

* * *

**Konoha's academy, Exam day**

Sasuke was sitting next to the wall, using Naruto as a live shield between himself and his fan-girls. He didn't even know some these females. The Uchiha's virtue was saved by the entrance of Iruka and Mizuki who broke the riot in progress. It was time for the jutsu part of the exam. The pair of school kids waited bored for their turn. Ichigo's students were the last two to be examined.

"Uchiha Sasuke, step forward." Mizuki said. The next few minutes were going to decide with which plan he'll have to go tonight.

Sasuke made his way to the front calmly, ignoring the whispers of his schoolmates.

"Kawarimi first."

The Uchiha substituted with a nearby free chair. Next was bunshin, which he executed flawlessly.

"Good work, young man. And now a henge and you are done." Mizuki said with a smile.

Sasuke henged into his brother Ichigo and smirked, in a perfect copy if his brother's patented expression.

"You pass. Next Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto started by henging in the Fourth Hokage, then he substituted himself with Sasuke, prompting an amused shake of head from the black haired kid and created three shadow clones. To Iruka's pleasant surprise the blonde passed! Apparently it was true that third time is the charm. Naruto went with Iruka, who wanted to treat him with a ramen for the success. Needles to say, Uzumaki accepted. Meanwhile, Mizuki congratulated Sasuke about becoming the rookie of the year. The chunin had a proposition for the young Uchiha.

"As the rookie of the year, there is a special mission for you. It is not too dangerous so don't worry." the man, waved at Sasuke forestalling any protests.

"If you are successful, it will be entered in your record as a B rank."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that news.

"You'll need to make your way to one of the training grounds. I cleared it up with your brother so you won't have problems in that regard." Mizuki said.

He did talk with Ichigo few days earlier, telling him that there will be a special challenge and possible reward for the rookie of the year. He even cleared it up with some of the higher ups, naturally nor mentioning the true purpose of that particular exercise in deception. There even was another operative in the village, which would sow confusion when the time to act was at hand.

* * *

Later that day, the kids met with Ichigo who was working on a project connected with the chakra armor he had bought. The clan leader had found the possibilities the technology represented fascinating but he lacked the knowledge to finish it up. So much of his free time in the last few days was taken by searching for people with the know how to make it work.

"Ero-sensei! We did it!" Naruto was jumping up and down brimming with excitement.

"Was there any doubt? I've been running you two raged for months." - Ichigo said with a small smile. "Well done. Now back to training. You still have to do today's regiment. Those two will supervise you." Ichigo made a hand sign and in a puff of smoke two clones appeared. The Kage Bunshins led their charges to the nearest training ground where the torture, ahem the training commenced. Ichigo returned to his work, lost in thought.

* * *

**Hokage tower, same evening**

The form of Sasuke could be seen stalking the halls of the Hokage tower, unseen to the eyes of the ANBU guarding the building. He was just another shadow, silently gliding through the empty corridors. He was counting the doors he was passing by, searching for the number 75. He reached it without accident, deftly disabling the alarms. He had less than a minute to grab the scroll and make his way out before the guards made their next round. Unknown to him, a medical nin had used a mild drug on part of the ANBU contingent, giving him the edge he needed to complete his mission. The guards were just a bit lethargic and scatterbrained that evening.

The Uchiha made his way out of the building, thinking that he got away unnoticed. However, two different people were watching his exodus. One was a white haired genin, who smiled thinly when Sasuke exited the tower. The plan was going splendidly. The other was Iruka, who had gotten a tip that one of his students was about to do something stupid. No surprise there. The perpetrator however was anything but. The last person the teacher expected to be doing something such as this was Sasuke, not after his brother had arrived in Konoha. Disturbed, Iruka made to follow his student. The chunin slipped in the shadows, his arms busy making signs. While the original pursued the younger Uchiha, the clone darted in different direction. The copy never saw the cloud of fine mist through which he passed and did not feel how it started draining his chakra. Iruka lost sight of his student for a bit, when they entered the forest.

Sasuke was waiting on the training ground as he was instructed. Mizuki appeared from a nearby brush with a scroll in hand. The teacher smiled:

"Here you are! Take this scroll. Your mission is to evade and escape with precious cargo. There are shinobi on their way here as we speak. You'll be rated on your performance. Do not get caught." saying that, Mizuki body flickered away before the kid could get a word in.

Sasuke frowned. The man didn't tell him what will be the extraction zone for the exercise. Bloody adults. The Uchiha heard someone closing in fast and bolted, stashing the scroll in one of the pockets of his tactical vest. Taking the lessons of his brother to heart he had come prepared.

Iruka entered the training ground and saw Sasuke running in the opposite direction. He shouted at his student:

"Sasuke stop!"

Ichigo's younger brother response was to run even faster. Iruka cursed and dashed after him.

* * *

**Uchiha's clan compound**

In the other side of the village, Ichigo was giving proper welcome to Anko, who had just come in after returning from her mission and turning in her report. She was naked, laying face down on the bed, with Ichigo massaging her stiff shoulders. She was moaning, her strained muscles humming with pleasure. Anko had missed their little rituals.

"Ahh. Yes! Right there!" she moaned loudly, Ichigo's magic fingers writing a masterpiece on her fatigued body.

There was a loud crash outside, followed by shout:

"Ichigo! Trouble!"

The face of the Uchiha's clan leader became grim, irritation visible in his eyes.

"Damn it! Now what!" Anko hissed, frustrated. She hated when her reunions with Ichigo were interrupted, and was not afraid to make her feeling known. That usually happened with the help of irritated vipers.

Ichigo, who was the more coherent from the two recognized Iruka's voice.

"Damn it, Sasuke's supposed to take part in some kind of challenge right now." he cursed. The elder Uchiha had believed that his brother could deal with whatever the academy instructors had cooked up without supervision.

He headed to the door, grabbing his pants and boots in the process.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, clothed by the time he reached the front door.

He saw the panting form of Iruka at the door-frame.

"The boss is after Sasuke. Hokage tower. Trouble." the clone said before falling apart in a pile of mud.

"So the gaki needs help." Anko said, appearing next to her lover. She had dressed up in her trademark attire.

"It's a universal trait of little brothers and sisters. They tend to get in trouble from time to time. Let's go."

The couple vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

**Hokage tower, Konoha**

While Sasuke was chased by Iruka, Mizuki had gone back and raised the alarm. Sarutobi had just entered his office when Ichigo and Anko shunshined next to him. The old man looked at the clan leader and asked:

"You already know?"

"Just that there is a problem with Sasuke and the tower was mentioned. The clone of Iruka who warned me was coherent and dissolved before extrapolating. So what's up?"

"Apparently, Sasuke stole the scroll of forbidden seals..." Hiruzen trailed off when Ichigo scolded and cursed.

"Bullshit. My brother has unrestricted access to the Uchiha archives. There is a copy of most if not all jutsus from the scroll. He has no need to steal it. "

That tidbit of information floored the Hokage and the attending ANBU. After the massacre such sensitive information should have been removed! Seeing the expression on Sarutobi's voice, Ichigo said:

"You need a fully matured sharingan to find and read those documents. As far as I know the only people with it are me, Kakashi and Itachi. You can bet your hat that Itachi knew all there was in the files before the massacre. As for me and Kakashi you either trust us or not." Ichigo shrugged.

"Now how to find my foolish little brother..." Ichigo trailed off, unconsciously using the same tone as Itachi when speaking about Sasuke.

* * *

**The Forest Near Konoha**

The training given to Sasuke had made wonders about his abilities, but Iruka had been a chunin for years and had experience on his side. The instructor, might have been surprised by the full scope of his student's capabilities at first, however now he had him on the ropes. Iruka had tackled the youngster to the ground and had his knee pressed to Sasuke's chest, and a kunai to his neck. The Uchiha's face fell. He grumbled:

"Damn it! I lost. You can have the useless piece of paper!"

Iruka was taken aback by that answer. Did the kid have any idea what he had done?

"Ah, Iruka you've caught our little thief. Good work, my friend." Mizuki smiled, appearing in the branched of a nearby three.

Sasuke looked at his other teacher and groaned. It was obvious now. He's been had. Ichigo was going to kill him or worse, leave him as a new toy for Anko. He was so screwed.

Iruka turned around sensing danger, kunai ready to parry an attack. His eyes grew wide and he grabbed Sasuke, throwing him away. He was forced to parry a hail of projectiles, falling back under the onslaught. A kunai embedded itself just over his right knee, another grazing his left hand.

"I really sorry about that but you know how it is, orders and all that entails." Mizuki shrugged.

"What is the meaning of this, Mizuki!?" Iruka shouted, putting himself between his student and the man he had considered a friend.

"My boss has a fascination with rare blood lines, and the sharingan is the one of most interest to him. So he needs an Uchiha, preferably one that's with not as much bite as Ichigo is supposed to be.

"And who is holding your leash, traitor?" Iruka asked.

"Wouldn't you want to know?" Mizuki chuckled. He drew an Fūma Shuriken and threw it at his old friend and student.

They darted away, the weapon passing harmlessly between them. Sasuke had to dodge again with the traitorous nin darting to his side and trying to slam a kunai in his shoulder. Ichigo's student took a step back, drawing his katana. Before he could do anything else, Mizuki was replaced by a log, which was struck by pair of kunai, courtesy of Iruka. The loyal chunin shouted:

"Sasuke, run!" he ordered, stumbling.

Iruka could feel poison in his body, a liquid fire searing through his veins. He was weakening fast.

"Iruka-sensei!" Sasuke exclaimed watching how his teacher was swaying on his legs.

"He is finished kid. I've coated my weapons with a special concoction, just for cases like this." Mizuki taunted.

The betrayer dashed at his student, with kunai drawn for disabling strike. The Uchiha parried the first attack, twisted back, a second slash missing him by millimeters. He deflected a third, which pushed his blade out of the way and Mizuki planted a powerful kick in his gut, sending him crashing in a nearby tree. Sasuke bounced from the hard bark and found himself on the ground. The youngest Uchiha thanked Kami-sama, for he had retained the grip on his katana in his brief flight. That proved to be a lifesaver in the next instant, when the traitor was all over him, kunai stabbing with a blinding speed. Sasuke jumped to his feet, blade creating a barrier of steel, just as Ichigo taught him. Clashes of blades echoed through the forest, the rogue chunin surprised by the resistance the kid was giving. His brother had taught him good. But the more experienced man had few tricks in his sleeve. He jumped back, throwing his kunai at Sasuke who dodged one and interposed his blade in the path of the second. Mizuki had drawn another pair and threw them too. The Uchiha sidestepped the first, his katana raised to deal with the second, when it path suddenly changed. It turned, passing behind his weapon and twisted, spiraling around his hands. Sasuke found his arms bound by the ninja wire which was attached to Mizuki's weapon.

The traitor pulled the cord, drawing the kid towards him.

"You did well for a child, Sasuke. Give it few more months and some experience and you could have been someone to watch." the captor spoke.

Mizuki gave a strong pull, the Uchiha flying to him. He moved aside, out of the path of the katana his student was still clutching like lifeline and readied a kunai coated with strong sedative. He plunged the weapon in the teen's leg and stepped back, waiting for the mixture to do its work.

Iruka who was too weakened to move watched helplessly how Sasuke crashed on the ground unmoving.

"Well, that's easier than expected." Mizuki chuckled.

"Indeed." a frosty voice answered him from behind.

"Anko, get them to the hospital " Ichigo told his companion. She nodded, looking at Iruka with critical eyes, Poisoned. Sasuke looked much better, his chest moving rhythmically with each breath.

The Uchiha clan leader narrowed his eyes at Mizuki.

"So the clean up missed one rat. Well played." Sasuke's elder brother said quietly. He blurred with pure speed to appear next to Mizuki, with his katana's blade pressed to the traitor's neck. While teaching in the academy, the rogue instructor had been fair and liked by everyone. He was the last one to be expected as a traitor, the perfect teacher.

'Too good to be true.' Ichigo thought darkly.

"Ah. Uchiha-san, so nice of you to join us." Mizuki smiled. "Now I can accomplish the second part of my mission."

Mizuki substituted with a log, disappearing in the surrounding forest. He hastily pulled out a storage scroll and withdrew a bottle of thick brown liquid. With a grimace of distaste, the chunin gulped it down in one swing. The god damn taste was almost not worth it. He fell on the ground choking, his body wracked by convulsions. Mizuki released an animatistic roar of pain, his muscles rippling, growing. From his position a twisting sound of breaking and rearranging bones could be heard. Moments later Ichigo was close enough to see what was happening to the traitor.

"Fuck." the dimension traveler spat looking at the apparition in front of him. Mizuki had become taller, covered with bulging muscles behemoth. His hands resembled tree trunks and were longer, reaching his knees. The traitor looked as a caricature of a giant ape. He roared again, steam emanating from his fists. A wave of potent chakra exploded from the changing man. Golden fur with black stripes was growing all over his body. Ichigo was looking at the spectacle awe-struck. 'I thought the stories about were animals were legends even here!' the dimension traveler wondered.

In one moment, Mizuki was still in the grips of the change, roaring incoherently, and then in the next he was streaking through the air. His right, boulder like fist shot forward creating a crater in the ground where Ichigo was. The jonin had moved in time, pieces of rocks and dust following in his wake. The clan leader looked the devastation caused by single punch and immediately discounted taijutsu as a viable strategy. A single hit with that kind of power will shatter bones. And the bastard was quick, too quick for a chunin.

Ichigo channeled chakra to his throat, melding it into its wind elemental variant and waited for the shape-shifted enemy to attack. With a roar the tiger-man launched at the Uchiha.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Wind Style: Great Break Through) " Ichigo shouted a devastating blast of wind.

Mizuki was caught in the air, with no surface to which to anchor himself. The wall of wind smashed into him blowing him back, amidst a mess of uprooted and broken trees. Moment later, Ichigo had to dodge a meter long splinter which was launched by the beast, who had already recovered. The sharp piece of wood imbedded in a nearby tree.

The misshapen man growled with glee, the power coursing through his body feeling incredible. He ran forward, clawed hands sweeping as buzz saws. The Uchiha weaved a tapestry of flashing steel. Blade met claws and the metal yielded. The chakra infused talons of the beast man chipping the katana with each strike. One more sweep of the needle sharp natural weapons of the shape-shifter and Ichigo's blade shattered, the clan leader forced to jump back with four tears on his tactical vest. The light plates below it were scratched but held. The Uchiha threw away the hilt of the broken weapon and drew a tanto from its sheath on his back.

Roaring, Mizuki charged once again, expecting to be met head on like the last time. Ichigo darted right and the traitors claws slashed through empty air. The jonin jumped, landing sideways on a tree. His legs barely touched the bark of the plant, when the Uchiha used it like a spring board to launch himself at Mizuki. He jumped, turning in the air and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of the traitors face. The beast man's head snapped to the right with the crunch of broken teeth. Ichigo, who was still in the air, rotated his body and while falling to the ground behind the rogue chunin and brought his tanto in a hard vertical slash. The blade bit deeply in Mizuki's back, leaving a bleeding wound starting from the spy's left shoulder blade and ending at couple of centimeters over where his kidney should be.

The Konoha jonin was rewarded for his efforts with an earth shaking howl of agony. He began a horizontal sweep at the back of Mizuki's knees, aiming to cripple him. Mizuki jumped over the strike, his left leg kicking backwards. Ichigo substituted with a log. The poor piece of wood was demolished instead of the shinobi's head. The clan leader darted from above with his tanto poised to impale his opponent. Mizuki jumped and met him in mid air; the shape-shifter's razor claws caught his attacker and stabbed deeply in his flesh. The traitor's victim smirked and blew up in his face. The explosion threw him on his back hissing in pain. Mizuki stood up, his pelt singled and his fingers smoking, twisted in unnatural angles. He roared in tandem with his pulsing chakra, which had spiked to his maximum. The batsman's broken finger bones popped back in place with sickening crunching sounds.

Ichigo was observing his opponent from the tree tops, mildly impressed by the traitor's resilience. Usually when you take the brunt of the force produced by exploding clone, with your body you don't shrug it off like a flea bite. Ichigo frowned. He drew a kunai and spun it lazily around his finger. He put away his tanto, his newly freed crafting hand seals. The Uchiha threw the kunai, which was followed by:

"Fuuton: Reppushou ! (Wind Style: Wind gale)" a strong gust of wind propelled the projectile like a bullet. The kunai struck Mizuki in the chest, embedding to the hilt. The traitor blinked dumbly and looked at the wound. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it with roar, blood gushing from hole in his chest. Before Ichigo could use again the same attack, this time with more kunai, the rogue nin sprinted at him with blinding speed. The wounded behemoth plunged his right fist into the jonin's chest, roaring in triumph.

His victory was short lived. Ichigo's form fell apart into a flock of ravens, leaving behind a kunai stuck in the ground. In the hoop at its handle was a knot made by ninja wire. Mizuki followed the thin silver of metal to Ichigo, who was on a branch of far away tree saying:

"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu)" - The Uchiha exhaled fire over the taunt ninja wire, the flames gaining intensity and becoming wider as they traveled on the long string. Mizuki acted on animal instinct and tried to evade by jumping to the left, but it was futile. The fire reached its target, howling like the fist of angry god, burning to cinders a wide swash of the forest. Inhuman howls of pain echoed around Konoha. Ichigo landed next to the forest fire he had just ignited. He looked at the wretched form of the traitor. Everything below Mizuki's waist was charred ruin with the flesh burned to the bones. The unconsciousness was not a relief for the dying man; his whimpering was barely heard over the crackling of the fires.

Ichigo's back up finally arrived - two six man squads of ANBU, led by the Hokage who was wearing his black combat attire. They were accompanied by a white haired genin of all things.

"Kabuto-kun, try to keep Mizuki alive. He needs to answer some questions before dying." Sarutobi ordered the young ninja who said:

"Hai, Hokage - sama! " and darted to the wounded traitor.

"Old man." Ichigo greeted.

"Ichigo-kun its..." Hiruzen's words were drowned in noise as a spiraling wall of water crashed at Ichigo and the grievously wounded traitor. A torrent of electricity followed moment later, clawing at the wet ground, evaporating the liquid it was following. It struck the soaked Mizuki, frying him on the spot. There was no trace of Ichigo and the genin.

Sarutobi had jumped over the dual attack, his ANBU surrounding him in a protective formation. They were facing in the direction the assault came from. Eight dark brown, almost black forms darted from the shadows, right behind a hail of kunai. They were men, encased in plate armor, yet the assailants were moving with such speed and grace as if wearing nothing heavier than cloth. Half meter blades extended from devices above their wrists and the assassins charged at the Hokage's guard moving like a blurs. The shower of kunai hit no one but forced Sarutobi and half his bodyguards to jump back. The closer squad of ANBU darted forward, tanto and kunai in their hands, to meet head on the threat to their leader.

The fight was short and brutal; the light weapons of the Konoha shinobi no match for the heavy armor. With blades scraping over solid plate and kunai outright bouncing, the special forces squad was for a rude surprise, from which most of them had not enough time to recover. A kunochi with sparrow mask aimed at the neck of one of the assassins, believing it to be a weak spot. She hit hard enough to stagger her opponent but her tanto was unable to penetrate. The impact was strong enough to send vibrations trough her blade, almost wrenching it out of her fingers. The attack had left her right side opened for a moment long enough for the armored man to slip his left blade between her ribs, impaling her. She groaned, spitting blood from punctured lung, painting crimson the inside of her mask. She dropped her left hand, allowing her killer to stab her under the heart with his other weapon. She died with a small smile on her blood stained lips, activating all the explosive notes she was wearing at once. The detonation lit up the battlefield, scattering the still alive combatants. Only two shinobi of the first Konoha wave were alive, thanks to Ichigo. The Uchiha had body flickered among the enemies, capturing one in genjutsu and attacking another from behind. The assassin who had his mind paralyzed by nightmare died when pair of senbon were driven straight pass the opening for the eyes in his helmet and pierced his brain. Seconds' after he died, his body was consumed by acid, dissolving any trace of his identity and leaving only small, badly corroded fragments from his armor. Meanwhile, three more of the ANBU's number were cut down mercilessly.

The self immolation of the kunochi had brought the battle to a screeching halt for few precious moments. That gave enough time for the Hokage, who flatly refused to pull back, and his remaining guards, to join Ichigo and the two surviving ANBU from the first squad. Sarutobi was holding a long, black staff with yellow tips. He was handling the big weapon as it was weighting like a feather. Hiruzen looked at the remains of his ninja's with regret. His eyes stopped over their killers, becoming colder than the wastelands in Snow country.

"ANBU, stand back and give long range support. As long as I am alive I won't allow you to die needlessly. Cat, you are with me." he ordered with a tone that broke no argument and glanced at the Uchiha.

Ichigo gave a curt nod to his nominal superior. There was no need for any more words.

"Hai! Hokage-sama!" the ANBU answered and jumped back reading throwing weapons and jutsu.

The trio of Konoha ninja dashed at the invaders, covered by the Hokage's guards. One of the assassins was thrown off his feet by a wall of water and before he could stand up, quicksand opened below him, swallowing his armored bulk. Another was struck by multiple kunai, with attached ninja wire, two of which bound his arms. He was left defenseless by two konoha shinobi who were pulling the metal strings in opposite directions. Then that assassin was buried under a downpour of wind and fire jutsus, cooking him in his armor which soon corroded.

The woman under the Cat mask was Uzuki Yūgao, one of Konohas premier kenjutsu experts. She was engaging one of the assailants in a duel, weaving intricate defensive pattern with her katana. Her nimble form dashed in and out of the range of her heavy armored enemy, repeatedly slipping through his guard and striking at his left elbow, leaving slashes in the lighter material protecting the joint.

Sarutobi was facing two of the fools who had decided to attack his village and was educating them about the errors of their ways. The would be assassins could not get anywhere near the old man, who used his transforming staff to batter them in the ground. It was just a matter of time before the men in the armor were brought down by blunt force trauma.

Ichigo was dealing with the last of the enemies. He was engaging the blades armed man with a tanto, parrying his attacks with ease. The Uchiha's sharingan was blazing in the night, scanning his opponent's style and observing for chunks in his armor. He found a weak point at the man's right armpit. There was a vulnerable spot made by not good enough fit of the armor pieces. Ichigo stilled for a second and moved faster than attacking viper. He blocked the right blade of his opponent, slipped his left hand kunai under it and pushed it upwards, leaving his target exposed. He moved under his opponent right hand and deflected his left blade which was aiming to skewer him. Ichigo twisted the handle of his tanto catching it in a back hand grip and stabbed in the armour's weak spot, putting two spans of steel in the man's chest. The assassin gurgled and fell to his knees, drowning in his own blood.

The opponent of Yūgao tried to impale her with his left blade. She spun around evading the stab and retaliated with two handed vertical strike in which she put all her strength. Her katana struck the weakened armor at the enemy left elbow. This time the blade won, severing the hand at the joint. The crippled man only grunted and continued fighting oblivious to the steams of blood sprinkling with his every heart beat from the stump of his arm. She held him in place, blocking every strike of his remaining blade. His movements became sluggish and he stumbled with not enough blood remaining in his system to keep him going. The only warning the kunochi received was a flash of red over the disarmed man's armor. Driven by instinct she substituted with a nearby branch. That action saved her life when the assassin blew up with the force of twenty explosive tags.

Hiruzen with all his considerable strength delivered an overhead smash on the head of one of his opponents, crushing the entire vertebra in his neck and embedding his skull in the armored torso. He was about to finish the other one, when a loud explosion from behind made Sarutobi stumble. The Hokage's remaining opponent rushed him, seeing his last chance. Sarutobi's staff swept the man away, embedding him in a conveniently placed tree. The man stagered, dazed, and stumbled into a pool of water left by a earlier jutsu.

Ichigo body flickered near the man and made a series of hand signs too fast to follow:

"Suiton: Seibun Houfutsu! (Water Style: Water Cannon Replica)" the Uchiha said.

A pillar of water rose from the pool and engulfed the dizzy assassin. Soon he was drowned.

Ichigo scowled looking at the aftermath of the battle. That had hit too close to home for comfort.

_"Told ya, King. It's brand new world out there. And you have a big ass sharingan shaped bull's eye on your back." _the damned voice said.

"Old man, that stunt these bastards pulled didn't make much sense. There was no way they could have taken you out even if you were alone."

"Indeed. These children were in over their heads. But when you look beyond the obvious..."

It clicked in Ichigo's mind.

"It was a weapon test. To see how the armors held against a Kage and his ANBU guards."

Sarutobi looked thoughtful.

"Perhaps that's your armor fascination talking but it does make sense if one does not care for the men who are sacrificed in the process. However it's not a possibility to be discarded lightly."

* * *

Too high in the air to be visible to the shinobi, two figures were observing the battle.

"That could have gone better." one said disappointment visible in the way his shoulders dropped.

"Yeah, back to the drawing board."

The second drew a katana and stabbed in the air turning his hand as if unlocking a door. Mists formed around the blade, and with a subdued flash of light a paper double doors appeared. Before entering the portal, the first man looked back and smiled:

"What a splendid dimension."

"Yeah, It's perfect for weapon testing." added the second.

They entered the portal which closed after them and vanished without a trace.

* * *

**Konoha Hospital, later that evening**

After extensive debriefing and cleaning up, Ichigo was in Sasuke's hospital room, dozing in a chair. His little brother was lucky, with no permanent damage from the leg wound or the horse dose of sedative he was filled with. Not that stopped Ichigo from worrying. If he was a minute too late, Mizuki, that bastard would have and could have escaped with Sasuke, while Ichigo was dealing with the mysterious invaders. And the rogue instructor was not the only security breach in the village. There were not more reinforcements for the battle, because someone had impersonated a squad of ANBU and gave false orders for no one to interfere in with the combat. There was a witch hunt in progress now. The situation was aggravated by a hasty council meeting where some people were freaking out and wanted to postpone the Chunin exams which were in six months. Sarutobi had killed that idea declaring that such an action would make Konoha seem weak. That was something The Leaf could not afford. They were the premium power in the Elemental nations for too long, which inevitably had made them many enemies. If Konoha appeared weak their situation would deteriorate fast, and it could conceivably lead to Forth shinobi war. No one wanted that. On the bright side, Iruka and the medical genin were expected to make a recover too. The teacher's ife saved by Anko's fast identification of the poison coursing through his veins, and the boy was extracted from the water wave by Ichigo.

Sasuke bolted awake after a half forgotten nightmare. He was in the hospital again. His mind wandered to the last time he awoke here after the massacre and his heart was gripped with terror.

"Ichigo! " he exclaimed, terrified that his brother had followed the fate of the rest of the clan.

"Ah. You are awake." The elder brother said, chasing the sleep from his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Hn. Just like after training. Even hurts less. Sleepy though." Sasuke deadpanned, relief showing on his face.

Ichigo chuckled and ruffled his brother's hair.

"You should be up and running in few hours. It's just a flesh wound. Besides you can't miss your own graduation."

"It's today!" Sasuke exclaimed, livening up a bit.

"I'm on your team, right?"

"That was the plan, last time I heard. Now get few more hours of shut eye."

When Sasuke drifted back to sleep, Ichigo's smile vanished. That had been all to close a call. He made a silent vow:

'Never again! I will do all in my power to protect those precious to me!' for a split second his body had glowed with soft blue aura, as if some kind of arcane pact had been signed. Before joining his brother in the land of Morpheus, Ichigo had heard a quiet voice:

_"Go forward and never look back. Stay still and you will age. Hesitate and you die."_

* * *

**Massani weapon shop, next morning**

Zaeed had finished his custom made katana a day too late. Ichigo sure could have used it last night. At least it looked like the waiting was worth it. The craftsman led him to his work shop, where the weapon was waiting for his wielder. The blade was a work of art. A meter and a half long katana, which blade had a flawless wavy pattern over its edge. The weapon's hilt was an alternating black and red pattern, with a simple square cross guard.

"It took me a long time to get it right. The metal from which I forged it has a chakra absorbing properties, making it possible to channel elemental chakra in the blade. As a result it should not only take the properties of your elemental affinity but be almost unbreakable while reinforced by your power."

"Thank you, Massani-san." Ichigo said with a small bow, his eyes never leaving the sword. It was somehow calling to him, like a long lost friend.

The Uchiha gently took the hilt in his hand, a spark of energy flying between it and his palm. The katana felt a natural part of him, just like an additional limb. He channeled a small amount of chakra through his hand into the weapon and was rewarded by soft red glow. He intensified the power and the blade was enveloped by merry flames. Ichigo did not feel their heat; however Zaeed had to take a step back. The blacksmith's face was covered by sweat.

_"Zangetsu."_ The Uchiha heard in his mind.

"He is magnificent." Ichigo muttered, looking at the katana with wonder. "His name is Zangetsu."

A voice, filled with pride echoed in the substitute shinigami's head:

_"Finally you heard my name!"_

When Ichigo exited his trance he gently sheathed his blade and still wearing a small smile said:

"Massani-san, I have an additional job for you, if you're interested. There is this armour you might like to look at..."

* * *

**Konoha Academy, hour later**

Ichigo was henged as a nondescript chunin and was awaiting all the genins to assemble. It has been a hectic week, with the village on edge. The increased and very visible patrols of ANBU had helped a bit but a lot of civilians were still scared. The new main focus on the intelligence division was to find out where the new armors were coming from. There were multiple teams heading to the land of Snow, which was the most probable source. Konoha's own R&D department had new task too to find a reliable way of dealing with heavy armored enemies. Especially for situations when the most destructive jutsus were impractical. The thought of a few squads of enemy ninjas with such protection breaching into Konoha's proper gave a lot of restless nights to the people who saw them in action. Rooting out such a force from the village without great collateral damage would be a fucking nightmare.

The henged Uchiha looked around the room. It seemed that all the graduates had come in. And they were ignoring him babbling about last night's events. A tick mark appeared on his forehead and he shouted, using Iruka's patented jutsu:

"Shut the Fuck up! You are genin now so act the part!"

The crowd went still and looked at the unknown chunin. Sasuke and Naruto had to suppress their smirks while watching their sensei's antics. Ichigo said:

"Keep attention! This part is important. The Hokage in his infinite wisdom had decided that you are worth the time of some of Konoha's finest jonin. Do. Not. Throw away this privilege!" he growled the last worlds.

The genin were actually listening for once. He continued and unsealed the scroll from the Hokage with the final team selections:

"The teams are as following: Team One..."

Sassuke and Naruto were waiting for their turn. It came soon to the surprise of everyone.

"Team Seven: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki.." Ichigo trailed off glancing at his new team.

Ichigo's students cheered at that. During the last few months, their dislike and rivalry had slowly turned into a grudging friendship. Nothing helps bonding like two manias trying to kill you on daily basis and calling it a training.

"... Haruno Sakura. Jonin-sensei will be Uchiha Ichigo." to his surprise the expected fan-girl squeal did not materialize. She was just grinning madly. Maybe there was hope for the pink haired girl. On the other hand there were a lot of long faces in the crowd. He didn't think that he was that wanted as a sensei.

Ichigo continued to list the teams. No surprises until he reached the end of the list. The Uchiha's lips stretched in a small smile.

"On additional note, Hatake Kakashi will be providing additional training to the various teams. Stay on the academy grounds, your jonin-sensei's will be meeting you shortly. That's all." He nodded at Sasuke and shunshined away.

Ichigo met his team on the roof of the academy few minutes later. Sasuke and Naruto had finally managed to drag a grumbling Sakura with them. The jonin looked at his young charges with serious expression. You could say that last night's escapades were the final eye opening he needed about this world. His all too short period of somewhat carefree attitude had ended when he was on a vigil over his brother's hospital bed.

"Congratulations! You are a genin now..." he trailed off.

The trio cheered.

"For a week." Ichigo deadpanned.

"Ero-sensei!"

"Nii-san!"

"Sensei!"

Three voices shouted their indignation. Ichigo smirked and continued:

"The academy exam was just to weed out those who stood no chance in the shinobi world. But the real test which decides if you'll remain genin or are returned to the academy will be given by me in a week's time. Meanwhile you'll have to get to know each other and train."

The Uchiha's clan leader eyes bored into Sakuras. She gulped. That was not what she expected!

"Miss Harunto. If you truly wish to be a shinobi and one trained by me, you'll have to clean up your act. This life has no place for fan-girls. Until the true exam you'll be in the capable hands of Anko. She'll make you quit, kill you or if some kind of miracle does happen, make you get your priorities straight in which case you'll have the chance to become a capable kunochi. " he shook his head, watching the gawking girl.

"Well what are you doing still here?! Anko is waiting for you at training ground seven. You really don't want to be late."

The boys nodded frantically at that. Making the kunochi wait made her cranky. And you don't want to be target for her ire. It was much more hazardous for one's health than usual.

* * *

**AN: Please review! Next chapter will encompass the real genin test****.**

**(No bells, I promise!) and up to and including the first part of the mission in the land of Waves. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto! They belong to their respective owners.**

**AN: This chapter is not proofread. I'll probably post it again when my beta reader is able to check it up.**

* * *

**Bankai!' - thought**

**"Bankai!" - speech**

_**"Bankai!" **_**- Zanpakuto/demon speech**

**Training ground 7, Konoha**

* * *

For a week Ichigo had to deal with the fallout of the failed attack. Most of his time was spent helping Kakashi remove sensitive documents from the military police archives. And being paraded as a bloody hero. It turned out that he hated to be in the spotlight. At least for now the damned dog and pony show was over and he could deal with his students, who had a really interesting few days.

Wouldn't you know, Ichigo's genins survived a whole week left to the tender mercies of Anko in the forest of Death. He watched from the crown of nearby tree, how the trio was making their way into the training area. They were haggard, with eyes darting in all directions, as if expecting an attack. Sasuke and Naruto were in their usual dark clothes, with tactical vests on their chests. Both had katanas strapped to their backs. No surprise there. Sakura however...

The girl had a resolute look in her eyes, which held no trace of the fan-girl he knew. Her pink hair was cut shorter making it harder to be used as weapon against her. Sakura had two faint scars on her left cheek which were following the contour of her cheek bone. She was wearing a long sleeved shirt and cargo pants in forest camouflage, with dark green vest over them and a tanto on her back. She also had a medical pouch strapped to her right leg. He wondered what Anko had to do to produce such a change in the kid. No, not a kid anymore. Sakura was wearing herself as an young kunochi.

"You survived. Congratulations!" - Ichigo suddenly was behind his young charges, slapping the backs of the boys.

They reacted by instincts honed against the various beasties inhabiting the aptly named part of the forest they had trained in. Naruto spun around kneeling, his foot sweeping in a kick at ground level. Sasuke was also twisting his body to the side, with his katana making a horizontal strike at waist level. Sakura had jumped in the air and launched a wide-spread hail of kunai aiming at the most likely directions where an opponent would have moved in order to avoid her teammates strikes. Ichigo noted that she was slower to react and her aim was a bit off. Still incredible improvement given the timeframe Anko had. His girl was wasted in her present position.

The genins attacks hit Ichigo who was smirking at them. He turned into a flock of kawing ravens which headed to the sky. Sasuke and Naruto cursed under their noses, turning around to see the real Ichigo. Their sensei had embraced Sakura from behind, holding her hands to her body with his left arm and had placed his sheathed katana at her neck.

"Not too shaby." - the Uchiha clan leader said. Then he added: "Still you have a long way to go. So tell me, how was your field trip?"

Sakura blanched, images from the worst week in her life flashing through her mind.

* * *

**Flashback**

**Training ground 44, the Forest of Death - a week ago**

Being a genin, Sakura did not have much choice, but to follow her sensei's orders. That's how she found herself in that never sufficiently accursed forest. Despite what most people thought, there was much more to her than the fan-girl everyone saw. Well, if someone truly paid attention, her academy grades would have attested to that. Even in the worst days of the academy one could not become a kunochi of the year without some genuine skills. However what truly started to change her occurred two months ago, when the Hokage himself had made an appearance and gave a lecture. It was about the true shinobi life, not looked through pink glasses and with sugar-coating over the unpleasant parts. He had given it to the school kids in blunt, easy to understand terms. That let to full half of the students to leave disillusioned and scared shitless. The ones who remained had to take a good look at themselves. And she didn't like what she saw. It was a hard truth to admit, but the best she could do as she was then was to get herself killed in action. So she had taken the mostly ignored until then physical part of the academy lessons and training to heart. The direct result of that was that she soon raised up to the average form of a academy student. Then she continued to train herself, pushing at her limits. Something that was a live saving in this hell hole. They had almost died a dozen times before reaching the tower in the center of this so called training ground. Here their sensei for the week made her home away from home. That woman had got it in for Sakura since day one! She barely picked on one of the boys!

"Ahh! Genin! The ordered entertainment supplies arrived!" - a jubilant voice had exclaimed.

Sakura had felt a stinging sensation on her left cheek, never seeing the kunai which sliced her skin. The sensei for the week turned out to be a blood thirsty sadist to boot. Literally. And her jonin-sensei's girlfriend. The genin wondered if she should pity the bastard or to feel bad for him. An hour of unsuccessful attempts to avoid Anko's attacks and dozens of slashes, scrapes and bruises she had decided! Her bastard of a sensei deserved everything his girlfriend dished out!

By the evening of that first, horrible day, Sakura looked like a mummy. She was covered with enough bandages to keep Konoha's hospital supplied for a week! That night she had a long conversation with the woman about what is to be a kunochi and why she wanted to be one. In the following days, they were talking after the training was finished for the time being (and while Anko was patching her up), and Sakura was slowly becoming to accept that her "crush" was never for the real Sasuke, but for an Ideal of the boy, she had created in her head. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), she did like the New Sasuke, the one in which the boy had turned under the influence of his brother.

About Anko, Sakura was divided. On one hand she had received a crash course on poisons and basic medical training, and the woman had helped her deal with some issues. She had gotten much better at dodging in those few days. Or as the snake mistress had put it:

"You learn these things. Through training or training accidents." - and she had continued to turn Sakura into human pincushion.

That was the flip side. Anko had a thing about causing pain. Sakura had been stabbed, sliced, punched, bitten by that crazy woman's various scaly pets, and almost become the next snack for the various inhabitants of the cursed forest. The result after a week spent in that hell was a much different Sakura. The naive genin who had entered Anko's lair never came back. She could not survive through that "training regiment" and she didnt'. The Sakura who emerged from the Forest of Death was the kunochi who could take all thrown at her and forge forward. In a sense Ichigo's world of the week before were correct. What was left of Sakura's childish illusions had died there along with what most of her innocence.

* * *

**Flashback End**

"So are you ready for the test or will you go straight back to the academy?" - Ichigo asked.

"Ready! " - three voices chorused. After all the training they were made to go through there was no way they were going back to the academy!

"That is the spirit! The test is simple. " - The Uchiha smirked. " Its about the one thing I'll require from you above everything else. "

"Ero-sensei! Tell us already! What's the test!?" - the hyperactive blonde exclaimed. Despite the week's activities, Naruto was still full with energy.

"Why, my little genin. It has already began." - Ichigo's voice thundered. In a blink of an eye he was in front of Naruto and the blonde was flying back after an open palm strike to his chest.

"The usual test is to make sure you understand teamwork. " - as he was saying that, Ichigo was behind his brother, slapping the back of Sasuke's head strong enough to plant his face in the dirt.

"You proved that in the last week. Getting a glowing commendation by Anko is a rare thing."

Sakura who had drawn her tanto, was distracted for a split second by her sensei's words. Since when "You show some promise... for practice dummies. " was considered a positive endorsement?!

Ichigo snaked his arm around Sakura's weapon hand, twisted her limb and made her gasp in pain and drop her blade. He glided around her and pushed her forward, straight into Sasuke who was just getting on his feet. The genins stumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

"I require more from my students."

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" - Naruto screamed from the left and clouds of smoke obscured the training ground. Dozens of clones drew weapons and charged, while the original dashed to his teammates. Ichigo smirked and waded into the small horde of blondes. The first doplegannger was dispelled by a fist to the face. The Uchiha grabbed a second one who was trying to stab him and threw the clone at one of his brethren with enough force to turn them both into puffs of smoke. Compared to him, the bunshins were moving in a slow motion and were falling like a swaths of wheat before a scythe. In seconds, Ichigo was alone with his genin team.

"When you attack you must have the will to strike down your enemy." - The jonin dashed in between his students who had just gotten to their feet. A sweeping kick later and they scattered, Sakura and Naruto substituting with logs. Sasuke blocked his brother's strike with the back of his arms. The force of the impact sent him flying through the air.

"When you defend do not let yourself be hit." - he nodded at the pair who evaded and moved forward, delivering a tight group of punches at his little brother.

Sasuke had a grim expression on his face, his eyes narrowed in concentration. His hands were moving in a blur, deflecting his nii-san's strikes to the side. It was all he could do to keep the punishing fists from connecting with his body. The younger Uchiha fended off another strike, when Ichigo's left hand sneaked around Sasuke's right arm, puling it forward and taking the genin out of balance. The sensei delivered a light (for a jonin that is) tap in the exposed right side his student. Ichigo sidestepped his stumbling brother and tapped him on the top of the head with a fist.

"That was sloppy. You need more practice. Even when you achieve your sharingan, it will not be an excuse or substitute for training. Knowing the moves in your mind is not enough if your body and instincts can't keep up!"

Ichigo smirked. His other two students were sneaking up to him, ready to help Sasuke. He moved while the pair of genin were takin their time.

"When you want to protect someone - you don't let them die." - The Uchihas clan head pulled out his katana and rested its sheathed blade under Sasuke's chin, patting him twice with it.

"You hesitated and so he is dead. "

Moment later, while the students were still processing his words, Ichigo was behind Naruto. The clan leader has used his jonin speed to move faster than the blonde's eyes could follow. He grabbed the Uzumaki and body flickered to the center of the training ground, a clone with struggling Sakura following on his heels. Ichigo released the genin. His face became deadly serious.

"Five minutes. That is how long you have to last against me to pass the test. If one of you is still conscious and in a condition to move by the end of that time, that is."

The genin looked at each other a silver of fear visible in their eyes.

"Begin!" - Ichigo declared and started the chronometer on his watch.

Naruto created a small army of clones and send them in waves while he stood behind and commanded them like a general. Sakura's hands were busy sending kunai and shurikens Ichigo's way and Sasuke was throwing Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique) like there was no tomorrow. The genin had no illusions that they will be able to take out their sensei that way. They were easy prey for Anko and Ichigo was even better. Slowing him down however...

First to fall was Sasuke. Ichigo had no intention to see the training ground burned to ashes. He substituted with a rock which was behind his little brother, left two smoking scrolls on the back of his little brother and replaced himself with a log. Those small slips of paper were something special. He had been surprised that the shinobi did not have an equivalent to the flash-bangs from his original world. So Ichigo had commissioned one of Konoha's few seal crafters to create one. Now it was a good time for a field test.

Sasuke freaked out when heard the hissing coming from his back. He was in the process of stripping his tactical vest when the scrolls detonated. He was stunned by the dual assault of light and sound. That was long enough time for Ichigo to dispatch another wave of clones and to make his way back to Sasuke and take him out with a chop to the back of the neck.

"One down. It's been a bit over a minute." - Ichigo said in a bored tone. He had to use the Kawarimi no Jutsu: Body Replacement Technique a second later, when a vial full with a green liquid shattered where he was standing. Noxious fumes floated over the broken pieces of glass. 'Sakura's been stoked with Anko's best toys it seems.' - the clan head thought.

'Splendid.' He created a Kage Bunshin and sent it to distract Naruto.

"You should be more carefull of your surroundings. " - Ichigo scolded the young kunochi and pointed at Sasuke's insensate form. The poison cloud was being blown his way by light winds. Her eyes widened in horror and she darted to her fallen teammate. Sakura had to plunge through the edges of the poison cloud in order to reach the unconscious genin. She dragged him away to safety, but the venom that had made contact with her skin made her dizzy. She was rummaging through her medicine pouch when the Uchiha clan leader made his way to her and knocked her out. He turned to Naruto who had dealt with his dopleganner by incapacitating it with ninja wire thanks to a distraction provided by his last wave of clones and dispelled it.

"You teammates are down for the count. What will you do? Will you run? Will you give up?" - The Uhciha asked and released a bit of his killing intent.

Naruto froze, his body shaking. Fear was creeping in his heart. Part of him wanted to run and never look back, yet he refused to move his feet knowing that if he make on step back he'll leave his friend and teammate behind. A resolute look crawled up his face :

"I'll die before I ever give up!" - Naruto declared and charged his sensei, creating shadow clones while running at him.

"Good! You can't give into fear in a fight. It is no use." - Ichigo was saying as he was decimating the solid wall of clones who were trying to overwhelm him. The Uchiha got irritated by the endless waves of bunshins he had to deal with so he body flickered behind the copies and engaged their boss. Naruto's taijutsu had improved tremendously in the time since he became Ichigo's student but there were few things that were still holding him back. To Uzumaki's credit, only one was his fault - his habit to charge head on often without well thought plan, something the Uchiha and Anko were working on dealing with. The other two were quite obvious. He was still a young boy so until he grew up more, there was little more to be done for his speed and strength. Despite all the training and weights he was using, Naruto was not a second Rock Lee. His last big weakness was his somewhat undeveloped statute - he was quite short for his age, with corresponding consequences. The effect of years of neglect, malnurishment and abuse simply could not be erased in few short months even when you factor the amazing regenerative powers the fox gave him.

The blonde found himself on the wrong side of a drop kick delivered by his sensei. He was planted in the ground by Ichigo's foot. Naruto promptly substituted himself, before his mentor could kick him again.

Naruto drew four shurikens and threw them at Ichigo.

"Fuuton: Kaiten Shuriken! (Wind Style: Rotating Shuriken)" he shouted. The missiles spun like disks and flew towards Ichigo. The Uchiha knew that the weapons were under Uzumaki's control, having heard the jutsu's name so he did not bother with dodging. A kunai found its way in the Uchiha's hand as if by a magic and with he fenced off the shuriken, which proceeded to scar the ground around him.

"Fuuton: Kami Kaze ! (Wind Style: Divine Wind)" - Ichigo gathered chakra and released it in the form of four pillars of twisting wind. With a wave of his hands he sent the small tornadoes at his blonde student.

"That's not fair!" - Naruto exclaimed while he was chased down by the twisters. He substituted away - another poor log sacrificed for the continuous well being of a ninja. Naruto took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. 'That was too close... ' Naruto heard a whistling sound from behind and spun around with kunai drawn for combat. Why was he so sleepy?! The last thing he saw before his loaded with lead eyelids closed was a smirking Ichigo.

* * *

**Interlude**

Dimensions away, the newly promoted third seat of the Research and Development division of Seireitei was sneezing madly. The blond young genius had the nagging feeling that he had missed on delivering a great speech!

"Urahara! Pay attention! The new prototypes need to be done in less than six months and that's on top of all the stuff we have on the back burner. More working and less daydreaming!" - his lieutenant shouted.

Kisuke grumbled. It was not fair! He had too much other things to worry about and now he had to deal with some experimental armour as well.

* * *

**Back on training ground 7**

Two minutes later, when the time was up, Ichigo brough his genin back to the world of the living. First to came back was Sakura. She shook the sleep away from her eyes and started searching for the antidote.

"That will not be necessary. You were never poisoned. Besides after a week with Anko you are probably immune to it anyway. "

The pink head nodded in understanding. 'Genjutsu. I never noticed it.'

" You did well. However the genjutsu I used on you was a low level one so you should have been able to detect it. We'll be working on that as well as your physical training."

Sasuke and Naruto awoke within seconds of each other. They looked at Ichigo with dread.

"Sasuke, I believe I did mention that just saturating area with fire jutsu and hoping for the best is not a great way to go against a stronger opponent. As you saw, that just made you the target to be eliminate first. We will have some team building exercises in the next few weeks on top of everything else. On theory the attack you three made in the beginning was not too bad. But there was no coordination. Instead of using Naruto's clones to slow me down or confine me in a specific area which then..." - Ichigo looked pointedly at his brother and Sakura , " you burn down and sow with kunai and poison, you did my job for me by taking out a lot of clones. If there is any choice, rushing ahead without a good plan is a foolish thing to do."

A lot of staring in ones feet insured. Naruto asked, crestfallen :

"Sensei, you won't really send us back to the academy, right?" - three pairs of puppy dog eyes hit him head on. The Uchiha smirked. Ichigo had gained a significant resistance to that technique thanks to Yuzu and Karin. Before his fateful meeting with Byakyua, his little sisters had found it harder and harder to twist him around their little finger.

"Drop the bloody kinjutsu. You proved to me that you can work as a team no mater how uncoordinated you might be, and while Sasuke was napping, Sakura and Naruto showed me that they won't quit and will do what is in their power to protect their teammates. So congratulations, you get to stay genin. "

A round of subdued cheering insured. When the students had calmed down Ichigo asked :

"Now, tell me what was the biggest mistake all of you made. And no, I have not mentioned it so far."

Now that she had a bit of time to actually think, Sakura caught on first, proving that she had a good head on her shoulders.

"We should have not fought you at all, Sensei. In essence you said that in order to win one of us had to be able to move after the time limit ended. We should have sent Naruto's clones to slow you down and ran. That was our only chance."

Comprehension dawned on the two boys. Sasuke pointed with accusing finger:

"Nee-san! You were toying with us!" - the tone of Ichigo's younger brother was flush with righteous indignation.

The elder Uchiha showed his trademark smirk:

"I merely made sure that your heads do not become too big. You are a genin. Congratulations again."

The amusement drained out of Ichigo's face as he continued speaking:

"While you are shinobi now, you should not overestimate yourselves. Sasuke and Naruto, you two right now could take apart most of your fellow genin in couple of minutes with few notable exceptions. After a month on the outside Sakura should be able to do that too."

The genin grinned at the praise. For the all five seconds until they realised that Ichigo was trying to make a point and that was not about how great they were.

" However outside of the village that means nothing. Genin are the common foot soldiers of the shinobi world. Just a little better than a cannon fodder. And considering who is on our team the odds of facing just low level ninjas after our first few missions beyond Konoha's walls are next to nothing. Besides engagin into an unnecessary combat is not the best course of action."

He looked at their now glum expressions and shook his head. "But that is a problem for another day. All thinks considered you did good. Get yourselves presentable and we'll go out to celebrate. " - Ichigo finished with a small smile. Naruto's suggestion for celebrating with ramen was promptly outvoted and the newly formed Team 7 headed for one of the Bar&Gril's owned by the Akimichi clan, who were the best cooks in the land of Fire and arguably in the whole of the Elemental nations.

* * *

For the rest of the month the situation in Konoha was relatively calm, with no more incidents. After intensive training for the first two weeks, Ichigo's genin were doing two D - rank missions daily. The idea was to clean up the minimum required before getting their first real assignment. In the Uchihas opinion the D's were useless for even team-building, something he had focused on for the first week and various formations and forms of non - verbal communication during the next. Afterwards his trio had become to look like a real team . Luckily for them all, most of the so called missions were cleared up by clones of Naruto while Ichigo was teaching his students. His other pursuits were going well too. The vineyards had started working, with imported grapes for now, until the extensive fields owned by the Uchiha clan could be restored to their former glory. Even better, Massaini had made some preliminary reports about the armor which were encouraging . The craftsman needed few more people for the private R&D division Ichigo was funding, but he was convinced that they would be able to unlock the secrets of that technology. The rest of the Uchiha's clan leader time was divided between training, Anko and the paperwork needed to keep the clan assets spinning. At least the later could be dealt with by couple of clones. Thanks to his intense training and days spent buried in his clan's archives, Ichigo had finally fully integrated the encyclopedic knowledge given to him by Itachi. That included most of the man's jutsu with which, after a lot of practice, the Uchiha clan head was comfortable with. While he was not yet mastered all of these techniques, they had greatly increased his options in combat.

What ever power had made the body he inhabited in this world had made Ichigo a great favor. He had a great fire affinity with secondary in water and wind. He had concentrated on them, because becoming good enough with jutsu for elements he did not posses was hard, painstaking process. A very long too. Just coping them was not enough to use such techniques effectively. Besides he had his hands full for the foreseeable future. His students had firm grasp of the basics and were about to graduate to the next stage of their training. He smiled fondly at some of the antics his kids had made during their time together.

* * *

**Flashback**

It was a day before Ichigo got Naruto out of the dump, which passed for the blonde's apartment, and transferred him to live with him and his brother in the compound, when his wayward genin failed to appear for their morning run. After asking around the Uchiha had eventually found out where his student lived. To say he was appalled by the condition of the run down place was a massive understatement. The boy was in a desperate need of lessons about how to look after his bloody home. Ichigo had to wade through layers of dirty clothes and empty ramen cups. He found Naruto spawned on the floor of the small bedroom, unable to lift a finger. Around the blonde were discarded etiquettes from weights. Naruto had been pranked by Rock Lee of all people. The boy had loaded Ichigo's student with the same quantity of weight he was using.

Meeting the young green beast on his way here and getting directions from the laughing genin had been a dead giveaway that something was amis, but this was not something the jonin had expected. Ichigo smirked and asked:

"What do we have here? A bit too overzealous are we?"

"Shut up ero-sensei and help me! "

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll be eventually able to use all these." - Ichigo nodded at the weights while he was helping his young charge.

"Besides I'm sure that your teammates will love the idea. More weights for them too!" - The Uchiha said cheerfully.

Later that day, during a free for all taijutsu practice, the poor blonde was pummeled in the ground by Sasuke and Sakura. They had not been thrilled by the increased weights and blamed him for that.

* * *

Another day saw Sakura going to the Yamanaka flower shop to try patching up her friendship with Ino who was helping there. Haruno saw Asuma there, who was buying a bouquet and was chatting with her friend.

"She will like them!" - the blonde girl declared with conviction.

"I told you they are not for Kurenai!" - the jonin's denial was transparent.

"Right, right. Bye bye Sensei - san. And give Kurenai my regards when you see her later!" - Ino giggled.

Asuma left the flower shop shaking his head.

"Hi, Ino..." - Sakura muttered.

"What's up forehead?" - the other genin asked.

"Stop already! I just want to talk!" - Sakura exclaimed frustrated. Why was it so hard?!

"Ready to give up on Sasuke - kun?!" - the blonde exclaimed.

Sakura looked away from her childhood friend and wondered: 'Was I that ... shallow?! ' She huffed and glared at Ino.

"You know what?! We'll speak again when Anko-sensei had knocked you out of whatever fantasy world you are living in. Besides as you are now, there is no way Sasuke will spare you a second glance. He hates useless fan-girls! I hope that one day we'll be able to be friends again!" - with those words, Sakura left the presence of the gobsmaked Ino.

Few hours later a still angry Sakura was siting under shadows of a tree in the Uchiha compound and was reading a medical journal while her over-eager teammates were dueling. Their exuberant shouting, on top of the sounds of clashing metal were grating on her nerves. Sakura checked again the page she was reading, to make sure and smiled wickedly. A pair of senbon hit each boy in the chest, taking advantage of their lack of armor. They dropped to the ground without giving a sound. She smiled and continued reading in blessed silence. That was the first time when they thought that she may be someone to fear. The poor sods had no idea what Sakura would become in the coming years under the tutelage of Anko and later Tsunade. Ichigo was watching the stunt she pulled from a nearby rooftop and smirked. The girl was growing splendidly.

* * *

The Uchiha brothers were talking about the past and possible future of their clan and Ichigo was grateful about he ways Sasuke had changed since he got to know him. The self styled "avenger" had mellowed out, a real person behind the mask emerging at last. The younger Uchiha, was a more easy going, sometimes almost cheerfull these days. His fixation on power had abated, now not beyond what was a healthy drive for a shinobi. Most importantly, Ichigo had managed to drive through his little brothers thick skull that there was no easy path to power even with short cut in the form of their dojutsu. Not for what Ichigo dubbed "One's true power" - which was based on training and experience . That was the one feature that in the next few years would make the Uchiha clan leader one of the most feared shinobi in the world. He did not rest on his laurels and was always striving to improve himself, never staying still. After each battle and new encounters he would learn and incorporating new features in his arsenal. And then - training until he was an expert with them. That was something Sasuke had taken to heart.

"So any girls that catch you eye?" - Ichigo teased his little brother.

"Nii-san!" - the youngster exclaimed.

"The question is actually serious. I've managed to get us a two year reprieve on the CRA but after that is an open season for us. I don't know about you, bu I have no intention to be forced into a marriage with women I do not love. So keep you eyes and options open."

Sasuke gulped. He was all to young to deal with that stuff. Stupid adults! Who put them in charge anyway?!

"When the future is concerned we can't overlook the "elephant" in the room. " - Ichigo continued in a grimmer tone.

His younger brother cleared his throat and asked :

"What do you mean? There are no such animals living on the continent, they are on the lands beyond the ocean!"

Ichigo sweatdropped. Yeah, sometimes when he used expressions from his dimension they filed over the heads of the locals...

"Just an expression meaning not to overlook the obvious. Itachi. "

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name.

"What about him?" - he asked suspiciously.

"I met him once you know." - Ichigo waved at his brother to forestall the wave of righteous indignation.

"Neither of us knew who the other one was. Hell at the time I didn't know I was a Uchiha." - he added. The clan leader continued speaking outlining the meeting with Itachi and omitting the real reason for the massacre. He didn't need his brother going on a crusade against Konoha.

Sasuke looked at Ichigo riveted by the story. It was hard for him to accept the image of crying and remorseful Itachi with the one he had met that day. Not with the images in his head which were seared with Tsukuyomi.

"Why did he do it? Why did he kill even the civilians and the children too?"

"Right now I can't answer your firs question, Sasuke. About the second - did he? As I told you it is unlikely he was alone that night. So we need to ask him a few pointed questions when we finally meet our brother. And he will answer!" - Ichigo's voice rang with conviction.

Slowly, very much so, the dimenison traveler had began to accept in his heart that the Uchihas were truly his family. In the beginning Itachi's announcement that he was his ancestor was just that - a bit of information to be sorted up later. But now, when he had months to ponder on it , it became a real thing. The Uchihas, Sasuke in particular were family and he cared for the kid as much as Yuzu and Karin. And he needed to know why the ones not privy to the coup were slaughtered. Itachi had not given him that information so he now had to find it from the man's earlier "version" . 'Damn, if that is even the correct term and tense. I'm too damn sober to even attempt thinking about the consequences of time and dimension travel. And while tinking about that not to forget that the Shinigami king, whoever he is. Its higly unlikely that he made all this possible without having something to gain, and with my luck that is also something I'll have to deal with.' - he thought darkly.

At the same time, in Seireitei a group of shinigami, who had found a great dimension where to test some new weapons and armor felt the temperature in the room where they were having a meeting plunge.

Sasuke pondered his brother's words for a long time. If you look at the whole picture logically it made sense. Ichigo was right. To his surprise, Sasuke felt liberated, like an immense weight was lifted from his shoulders. The shadow put in his mind by Itachi's genjutsu shuddered and shatered, making it easier for the boy to deal with his hatred. Oh, he still intended to have his planned "chat" with Itachi, but now it would occur in much different circumstances - on his and Ichigo's terms. And meanwhile, Sasuke will start living his life instead of brooding over his traitor of a brother parting words.

The youngest Uchiha smiled at his brother and asked :

"Is that all I need to know? If so I'll be going to see Shika and Choji."

Ichigo gave a small smile at the unexpected cheerfulness of his little brother. As if a dark cloud had lifted from the boy. Sasuke looked more... Alive is the correct word. The boy in front of him reminded Ichigo to the one from Itachi's memories before the massacre.

"Yeah." He said and ruffed Sasuke's hair. "Go have some fun."

His little brother nodded and with a genuine smile adoring his face, jumped from the chair he was standing in and ran outside.

* * *

**Yakiniku Ky****ū**** , Konoha**

Ichigo, who was accompanied by Anko, was leading his genin team to a restaurant to celebrate the end of their D- ranks, with the last of the required number done earlier that day. They had left Anko to choose the place (a pointed glare from the snake mistress had silenced any grumbling of protest they had ) . Surprisingly, the group did not end at one of the dango shops. Instead they found themselves in front of a large, two story restaurant. It was filled with multiple booths with green seats and tables allowing their customers a more traditional seating arrangements - on a green cushions. The menus were displayed on placards on the walls. The barbeque was halfway full when they entered. Ichigo's attention was focused on team 10 who were siting in one of the booths, without their sensei. The jonin in question was at the bar, chating amiably with Kurenai. Ichigo raised an eyebrow when he saw the man's bearing and expression. Asuma had it bad for the red eyed kunochi. The Uchiha clan leader smirked and whispered to his girlfriend:

"So we are here to look after Kurenai or did you two arrange a double date?"

She answered him in kind:

"No idea what you are talking about! I just heard that this is a good place and you barbarians did not want to go eat dango!" Anko added the last part with a pout on her face.

Sasuke and Naruto went to their friends with smile on their faces, while Sakura was trailing behind, glancing at Ino. The pinkete was wondering what had happened to her friendship with the blond girl. Asuma looked back at the commotion caused by the genin who were complaining from their woes.

"Hey." - he nodded at Anko and Ichigo.

"Hi!" - Kurenai chirped happily. She dashed forward and grabbed Anko's hand, dragging her away.

"What was that about?" - Ichigo asked bewildened.

"No idea." - he answered.

"How have you been since coming back?" - Ichigo asked, making small talk.

"Surprisingly fine, actually..." - the Hokage's son trailed off and looked at the direction where the women disappeared.

'Yeah, he's got it badly for Kurenai.' - Ichigo thought.

Asuma shrugged and looked at the genin who were getting progressively louder.

"Time to feed them." - he said.

"Yeah, the wildlife is getting restless." - Ichigo deadpanned. Few stern looks was all it took to calm down Ichigo's genin.

Shikamaru looked at him thankfully and went back to napping, while Ino was talking with Sakura, the girls were acting as best friends once again, and Choji was looking at the kitchens. Ichigo smirked at team 10. The poor souls had only a few days ago finished their scheduled poisons and survival training with Anko. To the irritation of said kunochi, the Hokage had found her work with Sakura and the boys of Ichigo's team impressive and had arranged for the rest of the genin cells to receive her attention for a week each . For Inoichi's disgruntement there were even bets among the shinobi in the know, about whether Anko could make Ino into a competent kunochi. Needles to say, the gamblers were avoiding the Yamanaka clan leader as the plague.

While the kids were comparing notes about their shared nemesis , the women returned with smiles on their faces. Kurenai bid them good bye and left, leaving Asuma looking at her retreating form with forlorn eyes. He whispered her name with feeling.

" Man you are in love. This attempt to keep your relationship secret isn't exactly working."

The other shinobi looked crestfallen.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Only when you look at her as she's the most precious thing in the world. And when you say her name that way..." - Ichigo trailed off.

"What way?"

"You two! You know its bad form to discus a lady when she is not around!" - Anko interrupted them, having snuck behind the pair of shinobi. "Especially if her best friend is around!" - she added.

"Only good things, I promise!" - Ichigo said with innocent expression on his face.

"You better! And you... " - she pointed at Asuma, "...if you break her heart I'll introduce you close and personal to my pets!"

After saying her piece, Anko went to seat next to Ichigo. She looked at the menu and groaned. No dango!

The dinner went well after that if you discount the attempted eating competition between Naruto and Choji, which was stopped by a glare from the snake mistress. Sakura and Ino were taking quietly, siting together. The sensei from hell, as the snake mistress was becoming known among the genin had succeeded again into creating a kunochi. Meanwhile the experienced ninjas were chatting about their students progress so far. One of the things they discussed was the future delivery of team 10 into Anko's clutches for a bit of additional survival training, something that had an unintended effect - it got Shikamaru wide awake and trembling. Yeah, not much nap time in the near future of that boy. Asuma looked at Ichigo's genin and shook his head in sympathy. The poor bastards.

* * *

Much later that evening, Anko and Ichigo were laying in his bed, covered with sweat. He was gently gliding his fingers through her hair, enjoying the feeling of it's silky softness. She purred in content and spooned her back against his chest.

" Promise me you'll be careful on your next mission. Please?" - she said, still basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

Ichigo softly kissed her shoulder.

" I promise. When did my Anko get mushy on me?"

She chuckled and poked him playfully in the ribs with her elbow.

"You are a bad influence on me. At this rate people will stop being scared at the mention of my name. My reputation will be ruined!"

Ichigo smiled softly at the woman in his embrace.

"We can't have any of that my love."

Ichigo thought about the promise he just made without concern. 'It will be just a C- ranked mission. Nothing we can't handle.' - he really should have known better.

Anko cuddled tighter into her lover's embrace and closed her eyes with content smile. They drifted to sleep in each others arms.

* * *

**Training areas, Uchiha clan compound**

Early next morning Ichigo had gathered his students. They were exited, knowing that today their jonin-sensei would be requesting their first C-rank. The genin were in their now customary attires, loaded with weapons and storage scrolls full with supplies.

"Gang, listen carefully. Before we go to the old man and pester him for interesting mission, I want you to hold one of these." - The Uchiha clan leader gave each of them a square piece of paper.

Sasuke went first. The edges of the paper in his hands wrinkled, before it caught fire and it turned to ashes into the surprised Uchiha's fingers.

"Interesting. You have strong fire affinity as expected and a secondary in lighting. About the second, we'll probably have to hit the archives and also talk to Kakashi. Lightning jutsu are not a speciality of mine." - Ichigo said with a thoughtful expression. The knowledge given to him by Itachi did include much beyond the basics in that respect.

"Hn. " - Sasuke's verbal tick reared it's ugly head.

"Cool! " - Naruto exclaimed, jumping from leg to leg. "I can't wait to see mine!"

Their sensei smirked and gave the next paper piece to Sakura to the blonde's disappointment.

She looked intently as water started dropping from the soaked mess in her hand. Ichigo whistled while she threw away the wet paper.

"Pretty strong water affinity. There are some interesting tricks I can teach you to go with it."

She brightened and smiled.

"Naruto stop bouncing around and come here."

"You got it ero-sensei!" - the blonde snatched the last piece of paper from his sensei's fingers.

"And stop calling me that infernal nick-name!" - Ichigo added. It was not as amusing as it once was.

Naruto's paper was sheared in two with parts of the pieces crumbling to dirt.

"Strong wind and little bit of earth. I and Asuma will be able to help you with your main element. I'll figure something about the earth affinity."

"All I get is some wind and dirt of all things?!" - Naruto pouted disappointed.

Ichigo drew a kunai and threw it at a nearby rock. The weapon buried itself to the hilt.

"Wind is in one of the strongest offensive elements with few applications outside of combat. Earth is a great defensive element with some nasty triks thrown in to spice it up." - the Uchiha clan head said.

"Wow! That's soo cool!" - Naruto exclaimed. "When are we gonna learn new jutsu?"

"Soon. While we are on our mission I'll go over the basics of your affinities and the most common D-rank jutsu and perhaps a few better ones. You need to learn not only when it is an appropriate situation to use a given technique but also when it is an abysmally bad idea to use one. For example, if our own pinkete over here " - Ichigo ruffed said girl hair, " soak everything with a water jutsu, including you two troublemakers, throwing lighting attacks won't be very smart. But if only the enemies had taken the bath, that's entirely different situation. While that is a most obvious example, I hope it makes my point. " - Ichigo explained.

Three heads nodded in unison.

"Now lets go get that mission."

* * *

**Hokage tower, Konoha**

The room where most missions were handled to the shinobi was on the first floor of the village's administrative center - the Hokage tower. It was a vast premises, mostly empty. In the center of the room a table in the form of "П" resided. The old man was at its head, flanked by his advisors. Four chunin were also seated at the table and were dealing with the most of the necessary paperwork. Ichigo entered the room, followed by his team, and headed to the enclosed space made by the table's wings to meet his boss.

"Old man, I believe that my misfits are ready for their first real mission."

Sarutobi tilted his hat of office backwards and smiled at the man in front of him. This Uchiha was one of the best things that happened to Konoha in a long time.

"Ready you say? Just for calling me old I should give you some tedious or unpleasant D-rank." - Hiruzen huffed in a mock aggravation.

A joyful "Mraow!" and a girl's scream could be heard from outside.

"Recapturing Tora for instance." - the old man said , shaking his head with amusement in his eyes.

"That feline had trained how to evade ninjas for decades. Hell, it should be too old to be moving around not to mention all the chaos it is rising. I'm not chasing Nibi's relative again as a D-rank! " - another vexed "Mraow" could be heard accompanied by the sound of breaking glass.

_"Indeed. It's almost as bad as Yoruichi." _- added the calmer, sane voice in his head.

_"Hey! I'm not Insane! Just a bit restless, ya now!" -_ the other one interjected, hearing Ichigo's thoughts.

'Shut up! and who the hell is Youruichi!?' - Ichigo shouted in his head. No answer came.

"Come one Old-man-Hokage! We are ready!" - Naruto added his two cents with Sasuke and Sakura nodding their heads.

Ichigo bonked the over exited genin over the head.

" Calm down." the Uchiha said to the blonde. "About that mission?" - he looked at the Hokage.

Sarutobi rummaged through a pile of mission request and drew one.

"Hmm. Yes that will do. An escort mission to the land of Waves. You'll have a bridge builder to protect. Great to ease you in the work ." Hiruzen said, adding his last words with a glance to the genin.

"I trust you that they are prepared. Bring the bridge builder in." - The Hokage ordered one of his hidden ANBU.

A minute later man wearing a brown vest stumbled through the door. He took a swing from a bottle of sake and a bit of alcohol leaked from the corner of his mouth, wetting his gray beard. The supposed builder looked at the genin and scoffed:

"What's that - three little boys dressed as a ninja? Is this some kind of joke?!"

"Why you!" - Sakura hissed.

Only Ichigo's fast reaction saved the prospective client from getting a bunch of senbon stuck in various sensitive areas.

"Sakura. We do not attack our clients only for making asses from themselves." - Ichigo chided his female student while he was restraining her.

The gray haired man gulped another swallow of sake and said:

"I'm the master bridge builder Tazuna. I'm building a bridge that will change my county. I need to return there as soon as possible. And I need people who will protect me from bandits even if it cost them their lives."

"Mere bandits?! That's it?" Sasuke looked affronted.

"We can provide you with more than sufficient protection, Tazuna - san. " The Hokage said. Hiruzen continued reassuring the man:

"In this team you have the Uchiha clan leader, the clan heir and two of our most promising genin. "

The bridge builder looked at the brothers and smiled:

"Two Uchihas! Yes, they'll do."

"Hn." - Ichigo imitated his little brother.

* * *

With their gear and supplies already packed in storage scrolls, team 7 were ready to go. Half hour later they were exiting Konoha. When Naruto stepped outside the massive gates, he jumped in the air exited.

"What's up with you?" Sakura asked with concern in her tone. It wouldn't do for her teammate to loose it before their first real mission ever started.

Naruto was smiling widely and bouncing up and down the road. He said:

"It is my first time out of Konoha! Its exiting! I am a real traveler now!"

"I know but you need to calm down, Naruto. We don't need everyone leagues away to know our location. This won't be our last mission outside the village so put a clamp on it." - Ichigo said, ignoring their client's mumbling.

"Move out." - he ordered.

They went down the way, with Tazuna nested in the middle of a triangle made by the genin. Naruto was on point with Sasuke and Sakura on the flanks. Ichigo summoned a flock of ravens and sent his minions on overwatch. He started to quietly lecture his students about the elemental affinities while their eyes were scanning the surrounding foliage.

Sasuke and Ichigo who at that time was in the front, were the first to notice the ambush site. It was a sloppy one. A pair of ninja hidden in a puddle of water in the middle of the road. At high noon during the summer. When it had not rained in a week. The Uchiha clan leader had to suppress his desire to facepalm. He said :

"You know Sasuke, will have to deal with this little problem like with our brother. "

The younger Uchiha nodded in understanding and scratched the back of his neck. His fingers were busy making signs to the pair of genin behind him, which were saying:

"Ambush. Two enemies. Try to take alive."

Sakura and Naruto started a loud banter, vexing their client. Meanwhile, Ichigo was slowly falling back trying to make them quieter.

"One day I'll be the Hokage! Then all of you will admit how great a ninja I am!" Naruto was shouting excitedly.

"Shut up dobe!" Sakura cracked her knuckles and came after him, thus by the time they passed the pool of water, both of them would be between it and Tazuna. Ichigo had no intention to let it go that far. A small ball engraved with seals flew from his right hand and impacted the pool of water before its unfortunate occupants could react. It exploded with flash and thunder. A pillar of water was blown up together with two cloaked forms. They fell to the ground disoriented, a metal chain was hanging between their bodies.

"Gozy and Meizu, the demon brothers. How interesting." - Ichigo said in a bored tone. "Deal with them. I'll need one alive for questioning." the jonin ordered.

The skirmish ended in seconds. Before the chunins could recover from the flash bang, their legs were incapacitated by senbon thrown by Sakura. At the same time Sasuke and Naruto were rushing their respective targets. Ichigo's brother planted shuriken in the shoulders of his chosen opponent, disabling his arms. The Uchiha heir then grabbed the hair of the missing nin and brought it down onto his rising right knee. With a crunch he shattered the man's nose and knocked him unconscious. Naruto made two clones and sent them ahead to grab Gozu's arms. He kicked the man in the solar plexus making him to double over and struck him in the back of the head which was now conveniently exposed.

"Well done. No freezing or messing around. Good technique and no unnecessary flashy movies. Now, lets tie up our guests and you three will be guarding Tazuna while I'll have a chat with those imbeciles." Ichigo said.

"Nod bad dobe."

"Teme."

The boys were back to their old tricks. That was ended by exasperated Sakura who bonked them on the heads with surprising strength.

"Do not slide back to this. It's aggravating." - the girl turned her back to her teammates with a huff and went next to Tazuna, following her sensei's order. The old man had a relieved expression on his face. Now he believed that the Konoha shinobi were up to the task.

* * *

Gozu and Meizu were rudely awakened by the stench of smelting salts. They found themselves tied up securely to a large tree. In front of them was a black haired man clad in dark, segmented armor with a tactical vest on top. He was glaring at them with a cold eyes.

"No matter how incompetently executed, an attempt to attack those precious to me must be addressed." The Uchiha hissed.

They did not correct him and just glared defiantly at their captor.

"Ah, big tough boys aren't you?"

Gozu spat :

"Do your worst leaf! You are all too soft."

"Really? Too bad I need only one of you to talk." - Ichigo said and steeled his heart. His left hand moved faster than the eye could follow and Gozu died. A kunai had struck into his left eye, through his brain and was nailing his corpse to the tree. Meizu froze not believing that his brother was slaughtered just like that. It took seconds for his mind to comprehend what just happened and then he let out a long, haunted scream. A moment later it became shriller, agonised. Ichigo had just stuck a kunai blade over the man's right kneecap and pulled, destroying it. That action crippled Meizu for the rest of his life. The Uchiha had to revive him twice more until he was satisfied that he now had all the answers the man possessed. Ichigo put the chunin out of his agony with a blade to the heart. After that he took the brothers heads and sealed them in storage scrolls and burned down the bodies.

* * *

Ichigo exited the forest with a haunted look in his eyes, that was replaced by a cold one as his gaze reached Tazuna.

"Old man talk. " - the jonin ordered with steel in his voice. "These two were paid to kill you."

Tazuna was transfixed by the man's crimson eyes and spoke the truth. He told to the shinobi how Gato had bought most of their country and was running it as his personal fiefdom, enforcing his will with a mercenary band as his steel fist. The bridge, which was about to connect the island country with the mainland was the only hope for the people of Wave. Unless the construction was completed, they would continue to languish in economic bondage with more and more starving to death thanks to unplayable taxes leveled by the buissenesman.

"Gato as the owner of Gato Industries, on of the wealthiest men on the continent?" Ichigo asked for a confirmation.

Tazuna nodded fearing the worst.

"And you did not have enough money for an assassination mission or one ranked high enough to represent the real challenge of protecting you against a man with such a deep pockets."

Another nod. Ichigo looked at his charged and shook his head.

"First, have you heard of differed payments? And second this is a breach of contract. I probably should terminate the mission and get my genin home." - Ichigo sighted.

"What do you three think?"

"Go. We can't be seen running home at the first snag." Sasuke said.

"Yeah what he said. Besides that Gato sounds as he need his ass kicked." Naruto added.

"Go but call for reinforcements." was Sakura's opinion.

"And the best answer reward goes to Sakura." - Ichigo nodded. "That is our best option beside scrapping the assignment." He hastily wrote a letter to the Hokage and sent it by raven, also adding the scroll with the brothers heads.

* * *

That night they were camping deep in the forest, guarded by small army of Naruto's clones and a flock of ravens as additional alarm. Sasuke was the one to breach the subject the genin were wondering about.

"Nii-san, how can you do it and deal with it?"

Despite understanding the question perfectly Ichigo asked for clarification.

"Do what?"

Sakura exclaimed:

"You tortured those two shinobi!"

"All of you are wondering if you can do it if needed and if you'll be able to live with yourselves afterwards."

They nodded subdued.

"For me those are the wrong questions. Can I live with myself afterwards if I knew I did not do all in my power, no matter how horrendous to protect the people precious to me?! To give them the best fighting chance? Today was torturing and killing two men to gather enough information to know what we had walked into. Tomorrow it will be something else. This is the life of a shinobi. As Anko put it best : A killer's existence full of blood and tears."

_"Too true King. I didn't know ya had it in yourself." - _the distorted voice said.

Ichigo ignored it and continued:

"I can promise you that while I live I'll do everything to protect you. Now get some sleep. I'll be taking first watch."

That night sleep for Ichigo was a long time coming. He dreamt of blood and strange shapes which did not make any sense in the morning.

* * *

**Hokage tower, Konoha**

Sarutobi' work was interrupted by a knock on the window. Another one of Ichigo's ravens was outside, carrying messages. After reading them and thinking over the situation, Hiruzen made his decision and dispatched what he believed to be proper reinforcements.

* * *

**Land of waves**

Four uneventful days later, the subdued group reached the border where a boat was waiting to carry them over. During that time it had become painfully clear that the demon brothers had failed. Gato, their employer, had went to the nominal boss of the pair - one Momochi Zabuza. That man, one of the seven swordsmen of mist, was siting on a sofa in his quarters and pointing his giant weapon at the wealthy businessman. Four of the Gato's new guards had drawn their own weapons and an armed standoff was in progress.

"Your men failed! Why the hell I am paying you for?" - the employer screamed.

"To get the job done. Which I will. " - the demon from the mist deadpanned.

"Fine! But two of my men are going with you! " - Gato nodded at the sound ninja surrounding him.

"That will require more payment. We were hired as bodyguards not, assassins. " the leader of the armored men said.

"Just get it fucking done!" - the magnate screamed again.

**AN: Please review!**


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